Unmasked
by Leo James
Summary: Lily goes to a ball and falls for a perfect stranger...until he takes his mask off. Chapter 34! FINISHED!
1. Like All Good Fairy Stories

Lily was very excited. Her parents had been going to dances at her father's work for year, but for the first time she as allowed to go with them. Her dad, Mr Thomas Evans, work for the Ministry of Magic in the minister's personal office. This meant that her had to accompany the minister to events that, luckily for Lily, included balls.

She had her outfit, from makeup down to shoes, prepared weeks in advance. She knew what dress she was going to wear, how she was going to have her hair and what lipstick she was going to wear… until her parents told her that it was going to be a masked ball. At first, this thought depressed her; it made all of her plans worthless. But in time she realised that wearing a mask could be quite fun. It meant that she did not have to be just Lily Evans, for one night she could be anyone she wanted.

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"MUM! Get Lily to shut up about this stupid ball!" Petunia whined as she stomped downstairs to breakfast.

"OUT THE WAY! JEALOUS MUGGLE COMING THROUGH!" Lily yelled as she followed behind Petunia.

"Lily stop winding up your sister," their mother warned, but smiled as she saw Lily's grin.

"Got your outfit ready yet?" she asked her daughter sarcastically. She knew that the party was all Lily had thought about for the past few weeks. Then ignoring Petunia's glare, she asked who else was going.

"The minister obviously…." Her mum answered.

"Yeah, but anyone interesting?"

"The Blacks," Lily made a face, "The Malfoys," and another face, her mother continued to list the families but Lily quickly got bored and tuned out until she heard her mother say "The Potters".

"James Potter's coming?" she asked dismayed. Her mother laughed at the look on her face but reassured her.

"Don't worry dear. I've never seen him at a ball. Besides can you imagine James enjoying anything formal?" Lily laughed at the thought of James in a tux. He would have his tie wonky, his shirt untucked, his hair, always untidy, just completed the picture. She relaxed and returned to looking forward to that evening.

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Eight hours later and Lily was putting the finishing touches to her outfit, 'helped' by Petunia, who was sitting on Lily's bed watching.

"I don't know why you're bothering. No one going to want to dance with you."

"Thank you Petunia."

"Only a loser would dance with you,"

"How's Vernon?" Lily turned round to ask.

"Don't change the subject!"

"I didn't," replied Lily smirking. Fortunately for her, Petunia did not understand her comment until much later in the evening when Lily was in London. Petunia chose to ignore her remark and continued to criticise her sister.

"Why do you have to wear those stupid robes?" she asked.

"We have to. There's a dress code," Lily replied grinning. She knew Petunia was such a snob that she would have killed to go anywhere with a dress code.

"They make you look fat,"

"Then it's good you're not coming,".

It was not as though Petunia had not been invited because she was not magical, being older than Lily she had received invites for a few years. But she refused to spend her time in the company of the people she called 'freaks'.

After checking she had got her mask and putting the rest of her makeup in her bag, she walked downstairs where her parents were waiting for her. Her mother began to compliment her as she walked through the door. Confused by all the attention Lily just smiled modestly and asked if they could leave.

"Bye Petunia," they yelled as they walked out.

"Whatever!" Was their reply.

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"Oh Lily, you look beautiful," her mother said as the drove up to the house. The ball was being held in a huge manor.

"Mum, please! You can't even see my face," Lily had sent the last hour being admired by her mother and had resorted to putting on her mask. But despite trying to ignore her mother's comments Lily had to admit she felt pretty. Her long red hair had been curled and was partially tied back, leaving some curls to tumble down her back and across her face. Her robes were made from a light material that made her look as though she was floating and her mask, matching her robes, was white. It was shaped like a cat's face, came down to her nose and perfectly contrasted with her brilliant green eyes. She sighed and prepared to go in.

Not knowing what to do once inside, Lily stayed close to her mother. There was an embarrassing incident when she realised that her mum had moved and she was standing with a stranger. Hoping that in the commotion of the party, no one would notice she slipped away and quickly found her parents again.

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Two hours later and Lily was bored. Her parents were dancing, but as she had not come with anyone and was to shy to talk to people, she had not danced all night. She was wondering why she was being so quiet, why she did not have the guts to talk to someone. Generally she was a confident person and never felt shy. She supposed that she overwhelmed by grandness of the ball. She had never seen anything like it. Everyone was in their finest robe and everyone wore a mask. Candles floated in mid air just above the dancers, there was a group playing music wearing masks in one corner of the hall and a company of house elves had been hired to wait on the guests. They wore small masks and bowties and carried trays of champagne and food. This confused Lily for a while, as surely a house elf with a bowtie would be free? And if they were free why would they be working as waiters at a party? She shook of the thought to go and get a drink. She wandered over to an elf, and was too lost in thought to notice where she was going. Lily was brought back to Earth with a thump as she walked straight into another guest. Immediately she started to apologise as he helped her up. He almost gasped as he saw her sparkling green eyes and realised in an instant who he had just knocked over. He decided to feign ignorance for the time being.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry. I should have been looking where I was going. Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes I'm fine, but it wasn't me that just fell over. Are you hurt?" he replied, but seeing that she was still a bit muddled added, "I'll get you a drink." Lily opened her mouth to refuse but he had already left. Her dad would kill her if he knew a strange boy was getting her a drink. Actually he would kill her if he knew she was drinking. He had given her strict instructions not to drink until she was old enough.

"Still, I'm seventeen," she thought to herself, "Which is close enough to eighteen. And besides that boy had seemed so……. charming" He was taller than her; though not by much and by the way he acted she reasoned that he could not be much older than her.

He returned with two drinks and seeing that Lily was unhurt asked her to dance. It was as they were dancing that she managed to get a proper look at him. He was wearing a simple red velvety mask that covered his entire face. She was disappointed that she was unable to see anything about his face other than his eyes. They were deep brown and seemed to go on forever. Lily was comfortably getting lost in them when the song ended and they broke apart, having to applaud the band.

"Well…I'll see you," he said before walking off. Insulted she stared at his back before recovering and finding her parents again, making a metal note to tell Petunia about thee charming stranger she had danced with.

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The evening passed and Lily watched the clock turn from 9 to 10 and then to 11 o'clock. She had danced with several people having no idea who they were. She had seen the red masked boy dance with other girls and was considering walking into him again but this time 'accidentally on purpose', when he came up to her and asked her dance. So they danced again. And again. And again. In fact they did not dance with anyone else all night. While she was dancing, Lily wondered who this boy could be. She decided that he must either have left Hogwarts or go to a different school. And she wondered if she would be able to see him after the dance. Sure there were boys at Hogwarts, but boys in Slytherin tended to be slightly……evil, and she was not desperate enough to go out with a boy from Hufflepuff who were considered to be 'Last Resorts' among the girls at Hogwarts. Ravenclaw boys were 'too much with the books' and as for Gryffindor: Well……… in Gryffindor James and Sirius were about as good as it got. As much as Lily hated to admit it they were very good looking, it was just that they knew it and were so arrogant.

Anxiously Lily watched the clock, as much as she willed it to stay still it continued to edge towards midnight. They chatted as they danced and she was amazed at how mature he sounded. She became an expert at keeping one eye on the clock but still managing to look into his eyes. Eventually it became close to midnight and the music stopped. Suddenly she found herself being dragged out of the hall, grinning as she realised it was time for the Minister of Magic's speech. Although she was alarmed she was relieved that she did not have to listen to the, no doubt, very long and very boring speech.

They sat down on a stone bench and talked until they heard the music start up again. There was only time for a couple of songs before the clock struck midnight.

"Like all good fairy stories" Lily thought.

The lead singer of the band announced that it was time to take off their masks and see whom they had been dancing with. There was an excited murmuring. The band started and revealed themselves to be the most famous and popular group around. People started to laugh as they saw who they had been dancing with. Lily saw her mum, very embarrassed as she saw that her father had swapped masks with his best friend. Her dad was watching from the edge of the room, bent double from laughing. She giggled but stopped as she realised that she had not taken her mask off yet. She was about to pull it off when she was dragged back into the garden.

"Why are we here?" she asked bewildered. Her partner shrugged,

"It's better outside, less crowded,"

Her partner looked nervous, as his eyes were large behind his mask. He knew who she was but he had no idea how she was going to react to him. Would she laugh, like the rest of the guests or would she be offended and walk off? He decided that the only way to find out was to take of his mask.

"Want to do it at he same time?" She asked, feeling just as nervous as him. He nodded. She counted to three and they both removed their masks.

"Hey Lily," he said.

"JAMES!"


	2. A Million Things To Say

Chap 2

"James?" Lily yelled. A million things to day flashed through his head, but all he managed to do was to repeat himself.

"Hey Lily".

Suddenly he wasn't the charming stranger she thought he was. Before her eyes he transformed from the mysterious man into just James Potter. His deep brown eyes faded to hazel, his adorably ruffled hair instantly became too messy, the voice that had seemed so mature seemed younger and more average. She was disgusted with herself. She, Lily Evans, had begun to fall for James Potter. Shaking herself out of it she turned back to him.

"YOU KNEW WHO I WAS THE WHOLE TIME?" she shouted. For the first time in his life James had no idea how to answer back. He could lie to her and make it worse or he could tell her the truth…and make it worse. So he shrugged.

"YOU DID KNOW DIDN'T YOU?" Lily put her face in her hands and sank down onto a bench. She had no idea why this was such a big deal, it just was. He sat down next to her and tried to talk to her.

"I knew when I helped you up. No one else has eyes like you Lily," he had intended it to be a compliment but she just became more enraged. Glaring at him one last time, she got up and swept inside. He sighed and put his face in his hands. He had mucked it up. Again. He roared in frustration and threw his mask as far as he could across the gardens.

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"That's was a lovely party wasn't it dear?" her mother asked her on the way home.

Lily didn't think she could stand what her mother would be like; if she told her that she had spent all night with James Potter, so she shrugged. Her mother looked at her concerned, she had thought that Lily would be more excited about it, after all she had spent weeks talking about it before and now she would not say anything about it.

"I guess I'm just tired," Lily said in reply to her mother's questioning look. The rest of the journey home was silent. Her father drove, her mother had given up starting a conversation and Lily just stared out of the window, thinking of her mysterious partner. He had seemed so different, but underneath the mask he was James. Just James.

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"Petunia I'm tired. Leave me alone,"

"Get yourself a loser?"

"Did you just hear me?"

"Did you?" Petunia persisted

"Not exactly" Lily replied, trying to shut the door on her sister.

"That's not an answer, did you dance with anyone?"

"Yes,"

"Who?"

"Since when do you know or care about any 'freaks?'" Lily asked. "It was no one."

Now goodnight!"

"You're embarrassed," Lily shook her head. "Yes you are, why? Who was it?" Seeing Lily blush, something clicked in Petunia's mind.

"It was that boy you hate!" Lily looked up at her so fast Petunia knew she was right.

"Oh! Does Mum know? I bet you'd hate for her to find out!

"Yes she does know," she replied defiantly.

"Really? Then it's okay if I go and talk to her now?"

Lily did not know what to do. She could let her sister find their mother who would tell everyone or she could stop her and give Petunia the satisfaction of knowing she was right. However Petunia saved her the decision by yelling down the stairs:

"Mum! You'll never guess who Lily danced with!" Suddenly she appeared at the bottom.

"Lily? You told me you didn't dance with anyone," Petunia turned a malicious glint in her eye and mouthed: 'shall I?' Lily shook her head fiercely.

"That boy she hates!" She shouted then smiled sickly sweet back at Lily.

"Bitch!" hissed Lily, knowing that she was going to get pelted with questions by her mum who would then looked triumphant and say 'See? He's not as bad as you thought he was, I told you he was a nice boy"

"You danced with James, Lily?"

Still scowling at Petunia Lily shouted,

"No. She's making it up,"

Their mum sighed. She had just been deprived of an excellent piece of gossip to share with her friends. That her daughter was going out with the son from one of the most important and richest families in the wizarding world.

"Petunia, stop winding up your sister!"

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Lily was awoken from a very strange dream by a tapping on her window. Stumbling, she let it in without a second thought. She didn't recognise it, but she took of the message and began to read:

_Lily,_

_I'm sorry. For everything. I swear I'll make it up to you. When are you going to London? Can we meet?_

_Yours_

_James_

The scrawled writing was so familiar to her that she did not need to read the signature underneath. She wanted to kill him, couldn't he remember that they hated each other? One dance couldn't change that. But then, he was trying to reconcile, maybe she should meet him. All night she was deciding whether to or not and by the time morning came she quickly scribbled a note back and went back to bed.

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"Why do you look so miserable?" Sirius asked, looking up from the book he was reading. James did a double take, Sirius reading? James tried to talk but no words were coming out.

"You look like a fish." Sirius told him.

"You're……….reading?" James stuttered. Suddenly Sirius looked uncomfortable.

"Um…yeah…. well…. something…. might…..I SAID MIGHT…..have happened to your TV,"

"Oh god, Sirius what did you do this time," Sirius tried to reply but James realised that he was too tired to listen to his excuses. "Never mind, tell me tomorrow."

He climbed up to the room he was sharing with Sirius. Normally he would be able to find a spare room somewhere in his parents' house, but for the summer his family were staying in their small house by the beach. James hated having to share a room, he could not wait until they went home and he could finally have his room back. He liked spending time with his best friend but 24/7 was too much for anyone to spend with Sirius.

Sensing that he should leave his friend alone, Sirius decided that he would question him about the ball tomorrow. He would have loved to go, but he knew his family would be there and he could not face them just yet.

Two weeks before he had had a huge argument with his parents while his younger brother just stood behind them and smiled smugly at him, occasionally nodding at what their mother yelled at Sirius. It was ugly. Sirius stood and took it all, until he found himself shouting and screaming back at them. The old woman, for the first time in her life, was silent but before she could continue her rant, he was gone. Grabbing his stuff he stormed out of the house, praying that he would never have to go back. Once he was out of the house, he sprinted out down the road and out into London. Except he didn't know where to go. He caught the Knight bus to James's house, without thinking. It was only once he was there that he thought that James might not want him. He had no reason to be scared as he knocked on the door and immediately Mrs Potter pulled him into a giant hug.

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James couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about what Lily had said to him. She was right. He should have told her when he realised who she was. Getting up he called his owl and made her wait while he wrote a quick letter. He sent it before he could change his mind and went back to bed.

"Aren't you going to wait for her reply?" Sirius asked sleepily. James glared at him before turning to face the wall. Sometimes he really hated him.

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"What are you kids doing today?" James's mother asked them the next morning.

"Mum, we're eighteen. WE'RE NOT KIDS!" Not hearing back from Lily had put him in a bad mood.

"Well, I'm going out today,"

"Who are you going to see?"

"Violet Evans,"

Sirius immediately turned to James, who had turned pale. Normally he tuned out of regular family conversations, not being regular family, but at the mention of Evans he became interested.

"That's Lily's mum right?" he asked James's mum. She looked surprised.

"You know Lily? Yes that's her mum."

"Yeah I know Lily, but not as well as James obviously," he smirked. She looked questioningly at her son.

"It's nothing mum. Have fun," James said as he pushed his mother out of the door.

"Do you want to live on the street?" James hissed at Sirius, who was about to reply when he saw an owl fly into the kitchen.

"Hey look! Its your girlfriend,"

"What are you, seven? Grow up you loser," James said with a look of disgust as he opened Lily's letter. It was heart-breakingly simple:

_James_

_August 8th. Outside the Leaky Cauldron 11 o'clock._

_Lily_

"That's today!"

"What?" Sirius asked disbelievingly. "Does she enjoy making you run around for her?" James shrugged and grabbed a shirt, followed by Sirius.

"You're not coming,"

"Yes I am,"

By the time James could reply, they had sprinted down the road and were on a train.

"You're not following us around," he said definitely.

"Oh, please! Like I would want to watch your sordid business with her. I am going to find a house,"

"About bloody time to!"

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Lily was bored. She had been waiting outside the Leaky Cauldron from 30 minutes and James was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, she turned around to head inside as James came speeding down the road.

"LILY! LILY WAIT!" She looked him up and down as he stopped. He had obviously been running for a while. He was out of breath, his shirt was half on, his hair was even messier than usual and he appeared to be having difficulty talking.

"Late……. sorry…. not my…….fault…." He panted. She raised an eyebrow.

"Then who's fault was it?"

"Siru…Siri…..Suri…." Not being able to pronounce Sirius he gave up. "His." He pointed at Sirius who was dragging himself exhausted down the street.

"You brought HIM with you?" she said outraged.

"Not coming……..buying…..house…" he struggled to regain his breath. Lily waited patiently for him before asking any more questions.

"He's not coming with us, he's buying a house?" James nodded. "And it was his fault you were so late?" He nodded again.

"Why did you run?" she asked. "Why didn't you just apparate?"

James stared at her. Why the hell hadn't they apparated? They had sat on the train and run for a mile when they could have just appeared.

"Anyway. Can we go now?" She linked her arm through his and they started off for Diagon Alley. James only turned round once, for one final smirk at Sirius.


	3. It Must Have Been The Ice Cream

Chap 3  
  
"Just so you know, this is not a date," Lily said. James nodded barely concealing a smirk.  
  
"James Potter THIS IS NOT A DATE!"  
  
"I know, I know!" she started to lecture him about how it was not a date, James should not have lied to her and blah blah blah blah. Quickly James got bored listening and interrupted.  
  
"You want an ice cream?"  
  
She stopped mid-rant and stared at him. She could not think why she had expected him to listen to her for more than a minute. Giving up:  
  
"Sure,"  
  
***************  
  
"I hate these things so much,"  
  
"Why? They go so fast,"  
  
"Exactly. They go so fast, and they rock and one day I swear- JAMES POTTER STOP ROCKING THE CART-that it will come off it's rails,"  
  
They were speeding through Gringotts to get their money. James was trying to scare Lily by shaking the cart. And it was working. She had been with him for an hour and already she had forgotten that she was stressed at him. Must have been the ice cream.  
  
***************  
  
"NO!" Lily shouted. "We're not going to the Quidditch shop! If you asked one more time, we'll spend the whole day in Madam Malkins."  
  
"What makes you think I want to spend the whole day with you, Evans?" James teased.  
  
"I don't see you leaving," she pointed out.  
  
"Good point," he said. "You want more ice cream?"  
  
She sighed at his immaturity. Before picking her flavour.  
  
"So what happened to you?" he asked. Not that he was complaining, but a week ago she hated his guts, and now they were out together eating ice cream.  
  
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," She replied innocently.  
  
"Why don't you hate me?" Surprised she tried to answer his question but found that she did not know herself.  
  
"I just....you.....because...erm......"  
  
"I understand. You just can't resist me," He grinned his trademark slightly lop sided grin at her.  
  
"Stop it! I don't like you that much so that smile has no effect on me,"  
  
"Really?" He tried again, exaggerating his smile, but instead of being cute it was just creepy.  
  
"THAT defiantly does not make me think that you're cute. It just makes me think.....("Yes?")....you're going to kill me when I'm sleeping,"  
  
"Cheers," he said sarcastically and walked off. Lily stared as he walked off. Where did he think he was going? Until he returned with two more ice creams.  
  
"What is it with you and ice creams?" she asked. He smiled and shrugged, his smile vanished as he tripped and nearly dropped the ice creams he was holding, struggled to catch them. Flustered he handed one to Lily and sat back down.  
  
'Okay' thought Lily 'Now he's cute'.  
  
She could not explain it herself. She had brought him to London so she could moan at him, but after spending time with just him and not with his pathetic friends, she had to admit that she was wrong at him. James was easy to be around and she was really having fun. He was talking to her but she wasn't listening. Because just walking out of the Leaky Cauldron was-  
  
"Yeah James, I'm sure that's a very good story, but we have to go! Now!" she interrupted.  
  
He looked puzzled. "Why?" He hadn't even been telling her a story.  
  
"You see that woman in the blue? That's my mother," He looked behind him,  
  
"SHE'S WITH MY MUM!" they stared at each other.  
  
"Time to run?" he asked. She nodded and he grabbed her hand as they sprinted down Diagon Alley.  
  
Despite being a muggle, Lily's mother became very involved in the Wizarding world after she got married. Her friends were magical and she felt just at home in Diagon Alley as she did in Oxford Street. Lily had always been glad, but not when she was out with James Potter.  
***************  
  
They had run down Diagon Alley and down a side street. They had ended up in a small camera shop, James had dragged Lily in there to go in the photo booth, so when they got back to Hogwarts she would not forget "That day when you didn't hate me". Lily laughed at the picture. Just to prove that he didn't hate him, he had flung his arm around her as the picture was taken. The photo version of her was rolling her eyes at the photo James who was grinning madly into the camera. James had bought a small camera and was busy snapping pictures of random things.  
  
"Smile Lily!" She grinned cheesily.  
  
"Smile Mr Fortescue!" He also grinned cheesily as he brought them their ice creams. Honestly thought Lily, he's like a kid with a new toy!  
  
"Smile Sirius!" Lily looked up. Why did Sirius have to turn up? IT WAS JUST GETTING GOOD!  
  
Sirius, obviously did not grin cheesily, but smiled charmingly into the camera.  
  
"Find a house?" Lily asked.  
  
"What happened today?" Sirius said in a dramatic whisper to James  
  
"What do you mean?" James returned the whisper.  
  
"It's the end of the day and you're both still alive. And Lily's talking to me. You didn't kill each other?"  
  
James sighed and repeated Lily's question.  
  
"Yes I did. I bought a flat."  
  
"Already?"'  
  
"Yes. Oh and you're helping me move in next week."  
  
"You're moving out next week?" James asked.  
  
"Yes. Pay attention!"  
  
"Sirius is living with you?" Lily asked James. He nodded.  
  
"Long story,"  
  
"I moved in." Sirius interrupted.  
  
"Short story" replied James.  
  
They chatted for a while until Lily decided that it was time for her to go. She finished her ice cream and got up, laughing at the amount of empty glasses on the table. They seemed to have eaten hundreds of ice creams.  
  
"See you Sirius," She said, and then leaned over to kiss James on the cheek. "Bye James."  
  
Somehow, she never did figure out how, she managed to keep her head up and to keep walking until she could collapse, after apparating home. Her head was spinning and her hands were shaking. She had just kissed James Potter. Lily Evan had just kissed James Potter. Okay so it was not a proper kiss but it was close enough.  
  
***************  
  
Lily ran inside and up to the bathroom. Willing herself not to be sick she splashed water on her face. Perhaps that sixth ice cream was too much.  
  
"Damn you Potter," she groaned as she threw up. Her mum heard her and went up to see if she was okay.  
  
"I saw something quite interesting today Lily," she said.  
  
"Yes........." Lily replied hesitantly.  
  
"I went to Diagon Alley today," Lily sighed. "And I saw a girl who looked just like you. And a boy who looked just like James Potter. Why was that Lily?"  
  
"I don't know,"  
  
"Lily!"  
  
"Fine! Because I went to Diagon Alley with him." Her mother smothered her in a hug.  
  
As her mother released her the photo they had had taken fluttered out of her pocket and onto the floor. She picked it up before Lily could stop her and stared at it. Looking at the grinning pair she suddenly shouted:  
  
"Oh Lily! That's wonderful! You're seeing James Potter! Oh Lily!" she repeated.  
  
Lily pulled away and told her that 'sorry to disappoint you' but she wasn't seeing him. She explained that they were friends, nothing more. She looked slightly disappointed but merely said:  
  
"For now," 


	4. Moving a Marauder

Chapter 4  
  
"LILY!" Petunia screamed. "There's a.......thing for you!"  
  
"Petunia, it's an owl. Even a muggle like you knows that." Lily sighed.  
  
Still in her pyjamas she wandered downstairs to get some breakfast before going back to sleep. She had her whole day planned out: After breakfast, she was going to sleep until lunch, then she would watch television before escaping her family by going back upstairs to sleep.  
  
Unfolding the letter she read:  
  
Hey Lily  
  
If you're not doing anything today, come round! I need your help!  
  
Yours James  
  
What could he need her help with? It couldn't be work because he never worked. What else could it be? She decided to go and find out before she realised she did not know where he lived. Fortunately he had enclosed his address on a scrap of paper. It was not far from her own house so she decided to get a train, as it was safer than apparating to a place she did not know.  
  
She spent longer than she would normally choosing her clothes and doing her hair and make up and was finally ready to leave.  
  
***************  
  
"1.........3.......5....." Lily counted the houses until she found number 15. Apprehensively she knocked on the door. James pulled it open and dragged her inside. He had spello-tape stuck to his face and bits of paper in his hair.  
  
"Thank god you're here!" He said he tried to continue but was could not be heard over the shouting coming from the floor above.  
  
"MOONY STOP MOVING THINGS!" They heard Sirius yell.  
  
"I'M TRYING TO PACK!" Remus replied just as loud.  
  
"WELL DON'T! IT'S CONFUSING ME!" Sirius yelled back louder.  
  
"WANT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO THEN?" (Even louder)  
  
"I DON'T KNOW! I WANT PRONGS BACK!"  
  
"ME TOO!"  
  
James and Lily stopped looking at the ceiling and grinned. Suddenly Lily understood why James had asked her to go round. They needed help packing. She sighed.  
  
"Where do you want me to start?"  
  
***************  
  
Hours later, they were no further forward and Lily had had enough. James and Sirius had got bored and had started putting spello-tape on each other and ripping it off, ignoring the very manly screams, Remus had settled himself in a corner and was waiting for them to stop. And Lily did not know where the other one was. Not being as good-looking as James or Sirius or as intelligent as Remus, Peter tended to get overlooked. And today was no exception.  
  
Finally Lily snapped. James and Sirius looked up mid-rip as she began to yell at them.  
  
"GET OUT!"  
  
"THIS IS MY ROOM, YOU CAN'T TELL ME TO GET OUT!" Sirius yelled back. Lily glared at him. If looks could kill.  
  
"You think that look scares me?" he asked but subtly backed away from her.  
  
"Get out. Go downstairs, go out, go to hell, I don't care, just GET OUT!" Scared they backed out and waited for her in another part of the house.'  
  
Lily sighed. Now she could finally get to work. She grabbed a box and with a wave of her wand filled it with Sirius's possessions. It took her half an hour to do the whole room, compared to the four hours the Marauders had wasted trying to pack.  
  
"You can come back now!" she shouted down to them. Sirius looked around in wonder.  
  
"Thank you Lily" he hugged her gratefully. "How can I make it up to you?"  
  
"Simple," she smirked "Don't ever move again,"  
  
************** 


	5. Stronger Than a Butterbeer

Chapter 5-Stronger Than a Butterbeer  
  
"Please Mum?"  
  
"Sure honey,"  
  
"Oh! Ple- what did you just say?" Lily asked surprised.  
  
"I said of course you can go,"  
  
"But..." Lily said confused, "But I want to go to a party,"  
  
"Yes I know,"  
  
"In London,"  
  
"Yes I know,"  
  
"It's Sirius's,"  
  
"Yes I know,"  
  
"Why aren't you stopping me?" She was so confused. Lily had gone to her mother to try to persuade her to let her go to Sirius's house-warming party in his new flat in London. He was infamous for his wild parties, and expecting to have to beg her parents, she could not understand why she was allowed to go.  
  
"Do you want me to say no?"  
  
"YOU CAN'T SAY NO! YOU JUST SAID YES!" Glaring at her mother's teasing smile she ran upstairs to reply to James's letter.  
  
She made it longer than her previous letters, despite having nothing to say. Content with rambling, she talked about anything and everything, before sending it to him.  
  
*************  
  
Sirius flicked James's letter away............ after reading it obviously. Despite now having his own flat he was sitting on a kitchen counter as he waited for his friend to return. Casually he watched James struggle in with shopping bags, not bothering to help him.  
  
He rummaged through the bags that James had brought in, only pausing when he was asked:  
  
"Why are you still here?"  
  
"Free food," he managed to say through a mouthful of sandwich, while James watched his friend eating his lunch indignantly.  
  
"Can't you go back to your flat or something?" Grabbing what was left of his lunch form Sirius, James stalked off to his room.  
  
"You got a letter from Evans," Without breaking stride James span around and walked back over to Sirius. Looking at him expectantly he waited for his letter,  
  
"Oh, I threw it over there somewhere," he pointed vaguely over the other side of the room. "Don't bother, you're not missing much,"  
  
"YOU'VE READ IT? YOU'VE READ MY PRIVATE LETTER?"  
  
"What's your point?" James rolled his eyes and opened his letter.  
  
"It's not one of her best, bit rambley but not all that bad I suppose," he added.  
  
But James was not listening. Lily had just written to him. Voluntarily. And she had written more than a line, more than a page judging from her writing. It seemed as though she had written more but had changed her mind and only sent the first page as it ended half way through a sentence that she had hastily crossed out and signed, underneath, Lily. She was coming to Sirius's party and she had written to him.  
  
He practically floated for the rest of the day.  
  
***************  
  
"What do you think of this?" Lily asked her sister holding a black dress.  
  
"No. Too slutty,"  
  
"How about this?"  
  
"No. Too slutty,"  
  
"This?" Asked Lily, holding up a huge woolly jumper and an old pair of ripped jeans.  
  
"No. Too slutty,"  
  
"Are you looking at all or are you just going to keep saying that all night?"  
  
Petunia retorted and it turned into a huge argument. Eventually, fed up of their bickering, their parents joined in. They told Lily that she would not be going to the party and they were both grounded until told otherwise. Petunia and Lily stormed upstairs: Petunia, to phone up and complain to Vernon, Lily to grab her wand and bag and apparate to Sirius's.  
  
Just outside his, Lily listened to the music pounding from outside, she took a deep breath and walked in.  
  
At once the noise hit her like a brick wall. There was very loud music and the noise of people chattering. She spied Sirius and waved to him, but seeing he was chatting up a very pretty girl she tried to find someone else to talk to. She greeted her friends but walked off as she saw James. Sitting next to Remus on a couch he looked as happy as she felt. He hadn't joined in with the rest of the party. He just sat, occasionally sipping his drink and looking dismal. Joining them, she noticed Remus looked ill.  
  
What a happy place!  
  
She got herself a drink, sat next to James and tried to make conversation.  
  
"Hi," was all she could think of.  
  
"Hey Lily,"  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"It's nothing. What's wrong with you?"  
  
"It's nothing,"  
  
They sat in silence for a few painful minutes, each stealing glances at the other while pretending not to notice, until James sighed and stood up to get a drink. She needed another so she went after him.  
  
"Why are you getting your coat?"  
  
"Because ......it's........cold........outside," he replied as though he was explaining to a child. Her expression changed from curiosity to hurt, she had only asked him a question. He shook his head and swore.  
  
"I'm sorry Lily. I think I need something stronger than a Butterbeer,"  
  
"Oh, thank god, me too!" she grabbed her bag and followed him.  
  
***************  
  
They wandered around until they found a small bar, just off Diagon Alley. James ordered their drinks and they sat in a quiet corner, drinking in silence.  
  
"Penny for your thoughts," James said, watching her over the edge of his glass.  
  
"I'm thinking......... I want to get so pissed,"  
  
"Me too!" He waved for the bartender to bring them more drinks.  
  
Judging from their happy faces, he guessed they had planned on getting very drunk and tried to put them off.  
  
"You won't find the answer in the bottom of a glass," he told them.  
  
"Yeah, but it's worth a look!" James whispered to Lily, who giggled causing the barman to wonder what he had said to her. They quickly drank their drinks and started on shots. Lily was starting to feel dizzy but was determined to get completely drunk. The first drinks were having no effect on James and it was driving him mad. Sure, it came in useful if he was having a drinking contest with Sirius but when he wanted to get pissed out his head it took him ages.  
  
Looking around, all that Lily could see was a few (slightly blurry) customers, the bar and a vending machine. She never smoked, but she was so stressed it seemed like a good idea. She went back to James and lit a cigarette; he looked surprised but did not comment. Everything about her was surprising him. When he had heard that she would be going to Sirius's party, he would never have thought that he would be sitting in a bar, getting drunk with Lily Evans. Much less that she smoked.  
  
"So, why did you look so depressed tonight?" he asked her. She snarled and stubbed out her cigarette.  
  
"It's so stupid, it was just a family fight, that really got to me." She moaned dramatically. He nodded.  
  
"You have a sister right?"  
  
She paused, thinking of Petunia's bitchy comments before she'd left.  
  
"No."  
  
He knew she was lying but did not remark, it was obvious he had touched a very nervy nerve.  
  
"How about you?" she asked.  
  
"Same," Now it was James's turn to lie, but he did not want to bother her with his problems.  
  
***************  
  
Hours later, and Lily was completely drunk and on her third pack of cigarettes. James was still doing shots and they were starting to get to him. He smiled but stopped. Someone had to be able to think....almost clearly.  
  
"We should be going," Lily looked up surprised, but saw his reasoning.  
  
"Where are you going?" she slurred.  
  
"I'm going to kip at Sirius's, but first I'll take you home."  
  
***************  
  
After an hour on the train, Lily was falling asleep on James's shoulder. She felt so bad, her head was spinning and she could barely see. Finally they arrived at their stop and were walking up to her house when Lily remembered that she was supposed to be in her room. Unfortunately she could not tell James this as her voice didn't seem to be working, all that came out was an indistinct blur.  
  
He knocked on the front door and waited for one of her parents to answer.  
  
"LILY! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?" Her mother said "Thank you for bringing her home James. Where did you find her?"  
  
Lily had been dragged inside and the door was slammed in his face before he got to say goodbye. 


	6. Two of a Kind

Chapter 6- Two of a Kind  
  
Lily was not speaking to James. She had been grounded for the rest of the holidays thanks to him. Obviously she didn't blame him for her getting drunk. That was her fault, but he didn't have to take her home drunk, he could have easily sobered her up with a simple charm. How many times had he done that for Sirius? But, of course he hadn't thought of that. And of course he hadn't thought of a spell to stop her reeking of smoke. And now she was grounded until September, she was going to kick his arse next time they met.  
***************  
  
James could not help feeling guilty. He could have sobered her up easily with a spell. He had done it for Sirius a million times before. Why hadn't he thought of it at the time? It was so obvious afterwards. The alcohol had affected him more than he thought it had. He had woken up in Sirius's living room. He remembered that he had planned to return there rather than to go home and face his parents, drunk. But he had no memory at all of getting there.  
  
He had written to Lily, but she had sent his owl back without a reply. He could not blame her for being angry with him, but if she would not talk to him he had no way of apologizing. Unless............  
  
***************  
  
Lily was flicking through a magazine in her lounge. Everyone had gone out and left her behind. Her parents were still furious with her and Petunia was making the most of being the favourite child. She jumped about four- foot in the air when she heard the fire crackle in front of her and saw James's head appear.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" She yelled at him, kneeling don in front of her fire place.  
  
"I'm trying to say sorry," he told her. "If I'd have thought more you wouldn't be in so much trouble."  
  
"Then why didn't you?"  
  
"Because you're cute when you're drunk!" he smiled his trademark grin, this quickly died as she glared at him. "Because I was drunk too! I'd had twice as much as you and you still expect me to be able to think straight?"  
  
Despite herself, Lily could not be too angry with him, he did make a fair point, he'd continued to drink long after she had stopped.  
  
"Fine, I'm not pissed at you anymore. But that doesn't mean I like you," She stated.  
  
"I know, I know," he grinned. "See you at school,"  
  
"Bye,"  
  
After that they both felt better. James was relieved that she was not mad aat him and Lily felt that she could easily go for the rest of the holidays being grounded. It didn't matter anymore.  
  
***************  
  
James backed out of the fire and as he had hangover he tried to find coffee. He stumbled over the remains of Sirius's flat, the party had obviously picked up after he and Lily had left. He staggered into the kitchen and was eating at the table when he realised that he wasn't alone. There was a very pretty girl sitting opposite him.  
  
No doubt something to do with Sirius.  
  
"Hi. I'm James," he introduced himself.  
  
"Rachel,"  
  
They made casual conversation until she got up to get changed. She had on a large black t-shirt that looked all right to James. He was about to ask her why she needed to get changed when she stood up and revealed that that was all she was wearing.  
  
It was defiantly something to do with Sirius.  
  
No wonder her shirt was so big, it didn't belong to her.  
  
James finished eating and went up to the bathroom, bumping into Sirius on the way. He took the opportunity to ask him about Rachel.  
  
"Who's the new girl?" he asked.  
  
"Girl?" Sirius asked confused.  
  
"Yes," replied James amused, "You know, tall, long brown hair, Rachel......ringing any bells?"  
  
"No,"  
  
"Well she's in your kitchen wearing your shirt,"  
  
"My shirt?"  
  
"I'm guessing you slept with her last night,"  
  
"I did?"  
  
"It couldn't have been that good then," James smirked.  
  
"Hey!" Sirius replied, insulted. But the expression on his face said that he still had no idea.  
  
"You know what? It doesn't matter, just go talk to her,"  
  
"Right. Erm........."  
  
"RACHEL!" James shouted exasperated. Why did he get the feeling he wasn't the only one who couldn't remember what he did last night?  
  
***************  
  
James sighed. Him and Sirius were two of a kind. There was no doubt about that and he loved it. They had quickly become popular and infamous at Hogwarts; the girls there loved them. Potter and Black were the very best catches in Hogwarts. Being with them meant instant popularity, not that the girls they chose needed it: the girls they chose were always the prettiest or the most popular. Until James had fallen for Lily.  
  
At first Sirius had been mad at him, but as he realised that James, for the first time, had real feelings, he left him alone. He would never be able to get her in a million years, but then, Sirius thought, James always loved a challenge.  
  
He decided to go home and was about to walk into the kitchen to say bye to Sirius when he saw he was a bit busy. James wondered if he had remembered her name yet.  
  
***************  
  
The rest of the holidays passed in a blur. Lily remained grounded, occasionally apparating out when no one was looking. James could not get her out of his head. They had managed to meet a few times but never for more than an hour. Although they did not know it they both had begun to count down the days until they could return to school. 


	7. It's in Their Nature

Chapter 7-It's In Their Nature  
  
Lily packed most of her trunk with a simple wave of her wand. Her parents had finally forgiven her for coming home drunk and had allowed her out to London the day before. She didn't tell them that she had planned to meet James there. In the morning she had been out with her friends. They spent hours in the shops to buy new clothes for the train ride to school and then in the afternoon she left them as she had arranged to meet James. They didn't complain. They thought she was joking.  
  
Carefully she put in her mementos of the summer. She found the picture of her and James in Diagon Alley, a bracelet her friend had brought back from a holiday and given her e day before and her cat mask. The mask had become one of her favourite possessions and there was no way she was going to leave it behind for Petunia to ruin while she was away. And finally she put her brand new Head Girl badge in pride of place on top. She had received it that morning and could not wait to show her friends. Especially James. For once he was not the best in everything. But she was rudely interrupted in her smugly bragging thoughts by a shrieking from downstairs.  
  
"LILY!" Screeched her sister. Lily sighed and went downstairs. No doubt there was an owl or something down there. What she hadn't expected was to see James's head in the fire.  
  
"Hey Lily!"  
  
Lily stared at him. She wasn't surprised seeing, nothing about him surprised her, but she wondered why he was looking so...........smug.  
  
"Hi James. You look happy, what's wrong?"  
  
He chose to ignore her remark.  
  
"You are looking at Hogwart's brand new Head Boy," he said proudly. She gazed at him open mouthed. Then grinned.  
  
"No seriously, what did you want to talk about?" He looked hurt for a moment and then managed to throw something small and metal through the fire. It was exactly the same as her badge but Head Boy instead of Head Girl. Still she found it hard to believe. He hadn't even been made a prefect and he was asking her to believe that he had been made Head Boy.  
  
"You probably borrowed it,"  
  
"Fine. Don't believe me, I just thought you would want to know who you'll be working with this year," he said coolly. "See you tomorrow." And he disappeared from the fire. Perhaps he still could surprise her.  
  
***************  
  
Twelve hours later and Lily was on board the Hogwarts Express for the final time. She had said goodbye to her father and teary mother and had found a compartment the rest of the seventh year Gryffindor girls had managed to secure. During their time at school they had become close friends and had missed each other during the holidays. They had been chatting when a terrified second year walked in looking for Lily. Immediately all the chatter stopped and all eyes turned to the poor boy, who seemed to quail under so much attention.  
  
"Excuse me, but Professor McGonagall wants to see Lily Evans at the front of the train." He said.  
  
"Oh crap!" Lily slammed a hand to her forehead as she remembered that she was supposed to go to the prefect's carriage immediately after boarding the train. She thanked the boy who scurried away, and made her way up to the front.  
  
"Miss Evans, nice of you to join us," Lily felt herself blush and looked at the floor. When she finally looked up she found herself face to face with James.  
  
"Oh, hi James,"  
  
"Hello," he said icily, before walking off, leaving a stunned and confused Lily behind him.  
  
***************  
  
He hated doing that. He hated the thought that he had been out of order to her. But, then again, she thought he had lied to her. And that was one of the only things he would never do. He resolved to make it up to her later as he went to find the rest of the Marauders.  
  
"Hey Prongs," Sirius looked up from his game of cards with Remus.  
  
"Why do girls have to be so confusing," James sighed as he sat down.  
  
"Don't know, mate. Don't try to understand them, it makes it easier,"  
  
"She thought........."  
  
"Evans?" asked Sirius.  
  
"Yes, LILY thought that I was lying to her about being Head Boy and then found out that I was telling the truth but didn't bother to apologise. So now I'm stressed at her and she can't understand why!" he said incredulously.  
  
"Leave her alone for awhile. She'll work it out, girls are good at doing that,"  
  
James sat and wondered whether he should try to talk to her or follow Sirius's advice. Neither seemed like a very good idea.  
  
**************  
  
Perhaps one of the reasons Lily loved her friends so much was because none of them were exactly......normal. There were four other sixth year girls in Gryffindor: Isabelle, Ciara, Ellis and Mia.  
  
Ellis, Lily had always suspected was more than a bit Veela. Her hair was a silvery-blonde and she had blue eyes that could change from twinkling to icy in a second. Her confidence made her the 'leader' of the group and she had one hell of a temper that Lily had learned quickly not to get on the wrong side of.  
  
Isabelle had hair that was so dark it was almost black, and it fell in ringlets across her shoulders. Her eyes, unlike anyone Lily had ever met, were violet. They were so unusual that anyone talking to her found it very hard to look away from her. They had a similar quality to Ellis's and could change in an instant. But her personality contrasted to Ellis's. While Ellis was the confident one of the group, Isabelle was the quiet one. Not shy, but she only talked when she felt that something needed to be said. Her parents also worked for the Ministry and so when Lily had to go to boring dinners or parties with her family, it was always a relief to see her friend there. Looking just as bored as she did.  
  
Ciara was born in Ireland and so she had a soft accent. Her voice sounded so gentle that you could go to sleep listening to her talk. Her hair was long and brown and usually pinned back into a bun with what ever she could lay her hands on.  
  
Mia was just like her name, small and sweet. Her dark brown hair was cut short making her look younger than she was. Although any illusion of her being a sweet little girl was shattered when she got stressed. She could be very sarcastic and anyone who knew her well knew not to provoke her.  
  
"Why do boys have to be so confusing?" Lily asked as she walked back into her compartment. "They just do," Ellis replied. "It's in their nature."  
  
"I was out of order to him and I was just about to apologise and he walks off. He just walked off," Lily raged, "And now he's going to be pissed off with me because I haven't apologised!"  
  
Ciara threw her a cushion to scream into. None of them had any idea who she was talking about, they would ask later, when it was safer.  
  
***************  
  
Hours later, and the five of them were looking wistfully at the Hogwarts Express. That would be their last ever journey to Hogwarts, unless they went home for Christmas. None of them planned to leave, they had explained to their parents how important it was to them that they spend their last ever Christmas at Hogwarts-at Hogwarts.  
  
The Marauders walked past them, James pointedly not looking at Lily. The horseless carriages sat six, but they were too late to get one to themselves. Three Ravenclaws invited three of them and Mia, Ellis and Ciara climbed in, leaving Lily and Isabelle to find another. Except the only one left already had four boys sitting in it. Four Gryffindor seventh year boys. Lily sighed exasperated, it would be her luck to have to share a coach with the one person she was trying to avoid. Nevertheless she climbed in and sat opposite James and next to the other one. Isabelle climbed in after her and sat opposite Sirius, who seemed very pleased with the seating arrangements. James was still determined to ignore Lily and stared at the floor. Lily suddenly found that she did not know what to do. She could not look or talk to Sirius or Isabelle because they were to busy flirting. James was ignoring her and she had nothing to say to Remus or the other one. She smiled at Remus who grinned back, earning them both a dirty look from James. The journey to Hogwarts seemed to take hours in the painful silence though they knew it could have been more than a few minutes. Lily was reminded of Sirius's party where she had sat in silence with James on his sofa. They had kept glancing at each other but pretending not to notice. Except this time James wasn't looking at her at all. Even when they got out of the carriage and he helped her out, he did not look at her. They sat together in a large group in the Great Hall, making conversation but he did not talk to her.  
  
As Head Boy and Girl they got their own separate rooms, though they still had a bed in the dormitory if they wished to use it. The entrance was behind a large painting of a young woman on a horse but they had to be there together to open it for the first time. Professor McGonagall showed them where to go and told them the password. Outside with her they were both very polite but once they got inside, Lily rounded on James.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" She yelled at him.  
  
"What?" he tried his best to look confused. She glared at him. "You thought I lied to you!"  
  
"Can you blame me?"  
  
"I wouldn't lie to you," He looked so hurt at the thought, she immediately felt so stupid.  
  
"Oh James, I'm so sorry," she rushed over to him.  
  
"No, it was me being stupid. Sorry I ignored you," He pulled her into a bear hug.  
  
'This year was going to get every interesting,' thought James.  
  
********************************************************************* THANK YOU SO MUCH IF YOU'VE WRITTEN A REVIEW! IF YOU HAVEN'T DO IT NOW!!!!!!  
  
Please review it, even if you think its crap. Its great to know that someone's read it! 


	8. Ten Galleons Says

Chapter 8  
  
Neither of them talked about their fight again. They both felt so stupid and embarrassed at the thought of it, they didn't like to mention it.  
  
Lily went to bed with it echoing round her head, and she resolved that she would believe him in the future. It would save a lot of time and trouble.  
  
James, meanwhile, was already thinking of something else. He had his own room for the first time in seven years. No teachers could go in there, so he could do what ever he liked in there. He grinned to himself as he began to realise what a useful aid that could be to the Marauders. No doubt Sirius would want to use it sometime.  
  
***************  
  
"New timetable," Ciara said as she passed Lily hers. She took at and looked up as the Marauders walked in. James and Sirius, in front as usual, with Peter trotting eagerly behind them and Remus sauntering in after. James nodded at Lily who said 'Morning' and reached for some breakfast. Ellis however was holding the plate of toast out of her grasp and was staring at her as if waiting for an explanation.  
  
"What?" Lily asked confused.  
  
"Did you just say hi to Potter?" Ellis asked incredulously.  
  
"No. I said hi to James," she replied. There was silence as the three girls tried to understand what they were hearing.  
  
"But.......since when.........how.........?" Mia stuttered.  
  
"I don't get it," Ciara stated simply.  
  
"But you hate him!" said Ellis. They all turned to hear what Isabelle was going to say.  
  
"Belle," Ellis prompted, "It's your turn,"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You don't seem that surprised,"  
  
"I'm not," She was about to explain about the carriage ride to school when Lily shot her a quick warning look. "They do work together remember?"  
  
Lily hoped that her relief didn't show too much. She thought that Isabelle was about to tell them everything and silently pleaded with her not too.  
  
"Yeah see? We worked together, that's all."  
  
'For now' she added silently, not remembering that her mother had said exactly the same thing, a short time before.  
  
***************  
  
Their last ever first lesson was Charms, which all of the group had taken.  
  
Their first task was to practice a spell that created plants. None of them could see any point in this whatsoever but the flowers were quite pretty.  
  
"I'd like you to practice the Orchideous charm today," squeaked Professor Flitwick.  
  
Lily and Isabelle automatically moved together.  
  
"Please get into pairs, yes Miss Quinn you may work in a three," he said without pausing.  
  
Ellis put her hand down grinning. She could be so predictable sometimes.  
  
***************  
  
Inevitably, the class ended and they all started to pack their bags for their next lesson. Flitwick was so pleased with their progress that he hadn't given them any homework. In fact the class had gotten so good that the charms classroom was now covered in every type of flower imaginable. James and Sirius had mastered the charm so well they were able to conjure up ugly spiky weed-like plants and covered Snape's desk, and Snape in them. Lily had managed to turn a blind eye to that; she didn't want another fight so soon after the last.  
  
Lily had packed her bag and was about to leave when she noticed her own desk. On it rested a single pure white lily.  
  
***************  
  
"Isn't it clear who it was?" Ellis asked.  
  
"James?!" asked Lily. "No, we're mates and besides he wouldn't be that obvious. He barely nodded to me this morning,"  
  
It was dinner and the five Gryffindor girls were discussing Lily's mystery flower. Lily had been barely thinking of anything else all day.  
  
"Who would be that obvious then?" Mia asked. Comprehension slowly dawned across their faces.  
  
"SIRIUS?" They said together. Turning their heads, as one down the table where Sirius was deep in conversation with a girl in the fifth year. He was separated from the Marauders and having an intelligent conversation.  
  
'There's about fifteen things wrong with that sentence' thought Lily.  
  
He leaned over to kiss the girl before getting up and leaving.  
  
"Ok, so maybe it wasn't Sirius," said Lily smirking,  
  
"Oh, please," said Ellis, "since when has a little thing like a girlfriend stopped Sirius from flirting?"  
  
"You know what? Let's just leave it. It was probably an accident. Maybe it just happened to land there," Lily said.  
  
"Oh Lils," said Ellis sighing. "You're too modest," Lily grinned thinking that Ellis had probably never been modest in her entire life.  
  
"It wasn't an accident and you know it," she continued.  
  
"It could have been," said Ciara fairly.  
  
"Yes sorry. It's perfectly reasonable that a beautiful flower that just happens to share Lily's name landed on her desk, just as she was leaving," Ellis replied sarcastically.  
  
Lily decided that she'd had enough and tried to change the subject. Looking around she noticed that Isabelle's violet eyes had lost their traditional sparkle and she was glaring down the table about the fifth year girl. Lily, smothering a giggle, subtly elbowed Ellis under the table to get her attention. Immediately Ellis turned her head and pulled a straight face.  
  
"Something wrong Belle?" she asked innocently.  
  
"She's too young for him. I give it a week," Isabelle replied grinding her teeth.  
  
"We're talking about Sirius here," Ellis reminded her. "I give it a night," Then she turned and whispered to Lily,  
  
"Ten galleons says she's doodling Isabelle Black on her books by Halloween."  
  
"Twenty galleons says they're together by Christmas," Lily replied smirking.  
  
"Done," Ellis whispered, and they shook hands under the table.  
  
***************  
  
Lily was disappointed when she found out that none of her friends had taken Astronomy and so was slightly apprehensive as she made her way up to the Astronomy Tower. She loved watching the stars; they were so beautiful to her. She also loved the idea that they were billions of years old and they never changed. They just sat there twinkling in the distance.  
  
She walked over and found her friend from Ravenclaw, Darcy; they sat and talked until the Professor walked in.  
  
"This term you will do a project on a star. Pair up with someone you are not normally with," he commanded. Darcy and Lily immediately paired together. Perhaps he wouldn't notice.  
  
"Miss Evans, Miss Bates, I said someone you are not normally with. So now I will find you a partner,"  
  
Lily and Darcy looked at each other in horror. They were the words all the students dreaded.  
  
"Miss Bates you will partner Miss Field, Miss Evans-Mr Black,"  
  
'Black?' thought Lily, 'PLEASE NOT.....'  
  
"Hey Evans" Sirius said as he bounded over to her. Lily was staring daggers into the teacher's back. She was stuck with Sirius all term! Sure he was nice enough, once she could get him to stop hexing people when they weren't looking. At least he didn't start flirting with her, she could at least be thankful for that. It wasn't until after the lesson that she wondered why. He had tried in the past; perhaps he had just given up.  
  
Still, it would give her a chance to get to know James better.  
  
********************************************************************* Thanks for reading and to everyone who has reviewed it! Let me know what you think and what you think of the new Gryffindors.  
  
Leo 


	9. I Hate To Say I Told You So

Chapter 9 I Hate To Say I Told You So  
  
It was half-two and an exhausted Lily was just climbing back into bed. She could hear Mia snuffling in her sleep and Ciara murmuring in her dream. She had decided not to use her own room, it just wasn't the same; it was quiet and lonely and she wouldn't be kept awake by anyone's snores or snuffles.  
  
It seemed that she had only been asleep for an hour when Ellis was shaking her awake.  
  
"Lils! Wake up! You'll be late for breakfast!"  
  
Lily groaned, as she'd had Astronomy until early morning, she was so glad that it was a weekend, and she had planned to sleep.  
  
"Sod off Elle! It's Saturday!"  
  
Fortunately for Lily, Ellis took her very subtle hint and left her alone. But it was too late, she was awake and no amount of hiding under her sheets or smothering her face with a pillow could change it.  
  
Groaning she got up, changed but found that she was too late for breakfast. She started to walk down to the kitchens when she realised that she had no idea where the kitchens were, having never been late for a meal in her whole time at Hogwarts. Sighing she made her way back to the Common Room looking for someone who did. Her wish was granted when she saw Sirius spread out across a couch. Deciding that trying to wake him gently would take too long, she chose a more direct approach.  
  
Sirius doubled up in pain as the book hit his stomach.  
  
"Evans, what the hell was that for?" he gasped.  
  
"Morning to you too!" she replied sarcastically,  
  
"I don't have to say morning to you, you just threw a book at my stomach!"  
  
"Where are the kitchens?" She said suddenly direct and business like.  
  
"Painting of the bowl of fruit. Tickle the pear," turning over, signalling that the conversation was over. Seeing as Hogwarts had thousands of paintings that didn't help her very much. It did, however, give her a place to start.  
  
So she spent almost an hour wandering around the corridors looking for the painting, her stomach growling louder by the minute. She was concentrating so hard on the walls around her that she wasn't looking where she was going and bumped straight into:  
  
"Professor Dumbledore?" Lily stared at him. "I am so sorry! I was just looking for a painting and I um-"  
  
He nodded at her, his sparkling blue eyes twinkling.  
  
"Ah yes. I believe you will find it on the second corridor to the left,"  
  
Since she was so hungry she felt like fainting, all she could do was yell "Thank you Professor!" as she ran off.  
  
"Tickle the pear," he called out after her.  
  
'That' thought Lily 'was one of the weirdest things anyone had ever said to me."  
  
Feeling very self-conscious, she walked up to the painting and touched the painted pear lightly. To her surprise it giggled and the painting swung open.  
  
Hogwarts really could be bizarre.  
  
The moment she clambered through she was confronted by three eager house elves.  
  
"Good morning Miss,"  
  
"You'll be wanting food Miss?"  
  
"Yeah," Lily replied, slightly confused by all the attention. "I just wondered if I could have a bit of breakfast?"  
  
So she left with her arms piled high with toast, croissants and the traditional fry up. Staggering back to her own private room she settled herself down and began to eat. And eat. And eat. Finally she was full and grabbed one of her books to start their star project. No doubt Sirius would leave all the work to her, so she might as well get started.  
  
Lily flicked through the book before reading the index and flicking through a bit more. But it was no good, she just could not concentrate. Perhaps if she went back to sleep, just for a minute it would be better.  
  
Curling up on the large sofa she closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep.  
  
'This could get interesting' thought James as he wandered back to his new room. He dragged his bag along the floor and swung it through the portrait of the horse. He was about to throw it down onto the couch when he noticed Lily, curled up asleep Fortunately his Seeker reflexes came on and he was able to stop himself just before he killed her.  
  
Although...when he first went in he thought she was asleep, but as he got closer he could see that her eyes were half open and moving. Perhaps she wasn't asleep after all. Kneeling down in front of her, he leaned towards her.  
  
Judging from the scream as she woke up, she had been asleep.  
  
He was just as surprised as she was; he jumped back and landed in a heap on the other side of the room.  
  
"What was that for?" They yelled together.  
  
"Why did you scream at me?" He asked her.  
  
"Why were you in my face?" She shouted. They glared at each other until Lily started to giggle. James looked at her questioningly.  
  
"Déjà vu?" she chuckled. He couldn't help it, he laughed with her.  
  
"Anyway, what did you want?" she asked.  
  
"Oh, I just thought you'd want to know about our meeting with Dumbledore," he said casually moving her feet and stretching out across the sofa.  
  
"When?"  
  
"11.30"  
  
"THAT'S IN FIVE MINUTES!"  
  
"Oh," said James glancing at his watch, "I guess we should get moving then," before lounging further into the chair and closing his eyes.  
  
James and Lily were sprinting through Hogwarts, trying to make to the other side of the castle in less than five minutes. Lily had had to drag James out of their room and was dragging him through the castle so they were not late. However all their efforts were in vain when they got to Dumbledore's office, and realised that they did not know the password.  
  
James started randomly shouting words to the door.  
  
"Bertie Botts!"  
  
"Hogwarts?"  
  
"PROFESSOR!" he yelled. "Can you hear us? Professor? DUMBLEDORE?"  
  
"Oh yeah, because that's going to work," Lily told him sarcastically, as the door sprang open behind her.  
  
"I hate to say I told you so," James said, "But after you,"  
  
Dumbledore surveyed them over the top of his half glasses.  
  
"Has Mr Potter told you why you are here Miss Evans?" Professor McGonagall asked Lily. She shook her head.  
  
"As you know, the Head Boy and Girl have been encouraged to take a more active role in the school, and the staff would like you two to organise this years Halloween event, "  
  
Lily was amazed, but James obviously already knew this and was gazing around Dumbledore's office.  
  
"Mr Potter has already informed us of your organisational skills Miss Evans," Dumbledore told them, ignoring the scowl Lily was sending James "So we assumed that you would like as much time as possible. You may use anything you find around school and if you need assistance you can always ask your professors."  
  
"Yes, thank you," Lily said and they walked out back to their room.  
  
"Can you believe that?" Lily asked excitedly.  
  
"Yes, Dumbledore told me this morning,"  
  
"And you didn't think about telling me until five minutes before?"  
  
"I tried to find you after breakfast but Ellis said you were asleep,"  
  
Lily could not wait. She had everything to use and she got to boss around the entire school. Halloween could not come fast enough!  
  
"When do you think we should start?" she asked him as they climbed through the portrait.  
  
"Whenever,"  
  
"Now? We've got all day,"  
  
"It's only the second day! We've still got months until Halloween," he said settling back into the sofa and closing his eyes.  
  
"What do you think we should do?" asked Lily. She was like a dog with a bone, and she wasn't letting go.  
  
"Dunno. A party I guess,"  
  
"A ball?"  
  
"Sure," He wanted to listen but he was just so comfortable he found himself falling asleep.  
  
"Should we have a theme?"  
  
"Sure," Why wouldn't she take the hint?  
  
"What about..."  
  
"Why don't we...." He interrupted, "Find other people and have a group of us organising it?"  
  
He watched her through one eye, she seemed to be thinking it over.  
  
"Obviously you as Head Girl would be giving the orders," he added. This seemed to help her decide. Finally he could get some sleep.  
  
Thank you for reading! Sorry there hasn't been much Lily/James. Bear with me, there will be soon!  
  
Let me know what you think.  
  
Leo  



	10. Who's Idea Was It?

Chapter 10 Who's Idea Was It?  
  
James had managed to persuade Lily to get a group together; he had also managed to persuade her to wait for a while before starting the preparations. It was three weeks later that the Halloween Ball Board had it's first meeting. Lily and James naturally were in charge, but James had chosen to take a back seat and let Lily order everyone around. Lily had recruited the rest of their group, and unsurprisingly Ellis, Ciara, Mia and Isabelle were among the first. For James she had asked the rest of the Marauders, and she was already beginning to regret her decision. James and Sirius were playing around, laughing loudly when Lily was trying to speak to everyone. Finally she snapped, rolling her eyes at her friends she pointed her wand at Sirius and whispered:  
  
"Silencio!"  
  
Sirius, in the middle of telling a very loud joke, opened his mouth several times wondering what had happened to his voice. Glowering at Lily he sat back in his chair and sulked.  
  
She thanked them for coming and began to explain what they had to organise. Lifting the spell on Sirius she asked them for any suggestions.  
  
Ellis, smirking, innocently suggested a ball.  
  
"A masked ball?" asked Isabelle.  
  
"NO!" said Lily and James quickly.  
  
Sirius, the only person at the table who understood their reaction, chuckled.  
  
"Do we need a theme?" Lily asked.  
  
"Films," suggested Mia.  
  
"No," replied James, "Too mugglish,"  
  
"Books?" proposed Ciara.  
  
"Too mugglish," said James.  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Lily insulted.  
  
"It means that any muggle-hating wizards ("a.k.a Slytherin" Sirius interrupted) won't come, and we're supposed to be doing this for the whole school."  
  
"Ok then, famous wizards?" Lily put forward.  
  
"What about muggle-borns?"  
  
They seemed to have hit a brick wall.  
  
"The robe shop in Hogsmeade has a new historical range," Ellis told them.  
  
"So make it history stuff," Sirius said.  
  
"Good idea Sirius!" said Peter, practically applauding.  
  
"Wizards or muggles?" asked Lily.  
  
"Make it both," said Isabelle, "Then nobody gets left out,"  
  
So the theme got decided.  
  
The H B B had another meeting a week later to decide the decorations. It was decided that the decorations would go with the theme and would change every half hour.  
  
"When are we starting?" asked Ellis, "Can we start with cave men?"  
  
Starting with caves and ended at the end of the night at the sixties the Great Hall and the decorations inside it would change. Isabelle volunteered to find the spells necessary and (to her delight) Sirius volunteered to help her.  
  
As that was soon decided they moved on to music, Mia and to her disgust Peter volunteered to sort it out and soon almost all of the party was organised.  
  
Remus and Ciara said that they would go to the kitchens and find the food.  
  
It was left to Ellis to tell the rest of the students.  
  
All Lily and James had to do was to sit back and wait. James was delighted with this; he now had no work to do at all. Needless to say, Lily was less than pleased.  
  
Time seemed to fly by for the group and soon there was only two weeks until the party.  
  
"Have you told everyone yet?" Lily asked Ellis.  
  
"No," she replied cheerfully, helping herself to mash potato.  
  
"WHY? WE'VE ONLY GOT TWO WEEKS TO GO!" cried Lily, starting to panic.  
  
"Dumbledore's said that we can go to Hogsmeade for the day tomorrow,"  
  
"Everyone?"  
  
"No, just the HBB," Ellis said, seeing the glow of pride from Lily as she mention the Halloween Ball Board.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"So we can 'prepare' for the ball,"  
  
"So basically, we have tomorrow off so you can go and get the best costume?"  
  
"Yeah,"  


  
  
The group had a pact not to show each other their costumes until the night of the ball. They had to rely on the mirror in the changing rooms for an opinion, and since it wanted to sell them everything, wasn't always entirely honest.  
  
It would tell them 'You look fantastic you should buy one in every colour' or 'You would never find anything like that in any other shop'. Two hours later and all the girls had their costumes.  
  
The Marauders however, were an entirely different matter.  
  
"Who's bloody stupid idea was this?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Yours!" shouted the rest of the Marauders.  
  
They were all having trouble finding their costumes, despite having a head start. They had spent three hours in a single shop, more time than they spent shopping the rest of the year put together.  
  
"Why does everything look so crap?"  
  
"That looks so great...."  
  
"SHUT UP!"  
  
Lily had arranged to spend the rest of the day with James, so she was really disappointed when he told her that he couldn't.  
  
"Sirius still needs help finding a costume and I figured that you probably wouldn't want to come with us," he said not quite meeting her eye. There was more than he was telling her, Lily decided.  
  
"Oh, okay fine. I'll see you back at school," she said, and went back over to her friends. They had gone to The Three Broomsticks for a drink carrying their costumes beside them. She took a seat between Ellis and Ciara, and opposite Mia.  
  
"Where's Belle?" Lily asked.  
  
"Don't know. She said something about going back to school," Ellis replied sipping her Butterbeer.  
  
  
James hated that. He had lied to Lily, he never thought he would do that. To make himself feel better, he used Marauder logic to reason that all he was doing was bending the truth. Sirius did need a costume; he just would not be helping him find one.  
  
Looking around Hogsmeade uneasily, he hoped no one would notice him. He hated waiting. Fortunately he wasn't waiting long.  
  
"Hi James,"  
  
"Hi Isabelle. Can we go?" 


	11. I Need Your Help

Chapter 11  
  
Lily and her friends were in The Three Broomsticks, getting a drink after a hard days shopping, when Sirius ran in.  
  
"Hey Evans, I need your help,"  
  
"Hi Sirius, I thought you were with James,"  
  
"Er.......no,"  
  
"He said you were still looking for an outfit,"  
  
"I am, that's why I need your help. I can't find a bloody costume!"  
  
"Get James to help you,"  
  
"I would, but I don't know where he is,"  
  
Lily stared at him. James had told her that he couldn't go out with her because he was going out with Sirius.   
  
"Where the hell is he then?" she asked struggling to control her voice.  
  
"I don't know! But calm down, he's old enough to take care of himself. Are you going to help me or not?"  
  
Lily thought for a second. Why shouldn't she? Her almost boyfriend had lied to her, why shouldn't she spend the day with his best friend?  
  
"Sure."  
  
"What about this?" asked Sirius.  
  
"No," replied Lily.  
  
"How about-"  
  
"No,"  
  
"This?"  
  
"No,"  
  
They had been shopping for an hour and they were winding each other up no end. Sirius as becoming frustrated, he hated shopping and it seemed to be taking forever to find a costume; and Lily was becoming irritated with being called Evans.  
  
"You got a date for the ball?" she asked.  
  
"Direct and to the point. I like it," he said grinning at her.  
  
"I was asking because I wanted to know what your date is wearing," she replied rolling her eyes.  
  
"Yes I have, and I have no idea what she's wearing, I figured you'd know,"  
  
"Why should I know?"  
  
"She's your best mate,"  
  
"You're going with Ellis?" Lily asked incredulously. He laughed sarcastically.  
  
"Nah, going with Isabelle,"  
  
Lily smiled. She was now twenty galleons richer.  
  
"I have no idea what she's wearing, can you just choose something so we can go? Please?"  
  
"I have chosen fifty costumes and you keep telling me to put them back!"  
  
Grabbing the nearest clothes she handed them to him and told him to try it on. She took a seat outside the changing rooms and waited for him.  
  
When he eventually came out, she couldn't help laughing out loud.  
  
"You have to get that one!"

"Thanks for coming Isabelle," James said nervously. The air around them was awkward, both of them had lied to their friends and both of them felt terrible about it.  
  
"You want to get this over and done with?" he asked. She nodded gratefully and they walked off to the shops.  
  
"Are you sure she's not going with anyone?" James asked anxiously. Isabelle reassured him that Lily was dateless for the ball.  
  
"She's expecting you to ask her. When are you going to?"  
  
"Once I've found a costume,"  
  
James desperate for any help found Isabelle in Hogsmeade and asked her to help him find something that Lily would love.  
  
"FOUND IT! FOUND IT!" Isabelle shouted as she ran through the shop back to James.  
  
"Wow. You really think that I could.....you know....."  
  
"Yes, you could pull this off, you'll look great. Now buy it!"  
  
Praying that Isabelle was right, he handed his money over and took his bag. He met back with Belle and they started to walk out of the shop when they noticed t was pouring with rain. They agreed to wait in the shop until it stopped. Isabelle wandered off to get some more stuff for her costume but James waited by the window watching the people outside hurrying in from the rain. His gaze was drawn to a couple; the guy was purposely dawdling by shops; the girl with him was laughing but desperately trying to drag him down the street and trying to pull the hood of her robes over her hair at the same time. She was failing miserably, the man she was with seemed to be ignoring her shouts and her hood kept falling back down to reveal vivid red hair.  
  
'That looks like Lily's hair' thought James. It was only as they came closer that he realised that it was Lily, and she was with.......... SIRIUS! He couldn't believe what he was seeing. She was on a date with Sirius? His snarl managed to catch Isabelle's attention, who walked up beside where he was standing to see what was wrong. But unfortunately it also caught Lily's attention. She looked around to see what had made that noise, when she caught sight of James in the window. Her anger at seeing him was nothing compared to what she felt when she saw Isabelle standing beside him. How could they had both lie to her? Finally Sirius caught up with her;  
  
"Evans, what you looking at......oh!" he said as he saw James and Isabelle.  
  
"ISABELLE?!" Sirius shouted through the glass.  
  
"SIRIUS?!"  
  
"LILY?!" shouted James.  
  
"JAMES!?"  
  
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" They all shouted together. Isabelle rushed over to Sirius and James ran over to Lily. The scowl she was giving him was more than slightly discouraging but James tried to explain.  
  
"I needed a good costume, so I asked Isabelle to help me,"  
  
"You didn't think of asking me?" she demanded.  
  
"It was for you!" he argued.  
  
"Oh. Okay. So what did you get?" she asked pointing at his bag.  
  
"I couldn't tell you that!" he said in mock horror. "What about the pact?"  
  
"You're not in the pact!"  
  
Isabelle meanwhile was desperately trying to explain the same thing to Sirius. He seemed to take it well, her long fiery kiss probably helped.It was the day of the ball and Lily was beginning to panic. The school had finally been told but the decorations weren't up and Belle and Sirius showed no sign of starting. She had no reason to panic as Dumbledore stood up at breakfast and read out a note that Isabelle had given him.  
  
"I have a note here from Mr Black and Miss Montalio, warning students away from the Great Hall and the Entrance Hall for the rest of the day. Lunch will be taken to the common rooms and the ball starts at 7o'clock."  
  
All of the HBB were allowed out of class on Halloween. Mia was frantically on the phone to the band all day checking that they would be coming.  
  
"Perhaps I could-" suggested Peter.  
  
"NO! SIT!" Mia told him.  
  
Ciara and Remus were in the kitchen most of the day sorting out food with the house-elves, but Lily thought she saw them go to the library with a huge stack of parchment.  
  
Sirius and Isabelle were not seen all day, as they were busy charming the great Hall with some help from Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. They had constructed brick walls at the end of all corridors that lead into the Entrance Hall, in case any student ignored their warning ad tried to sneak a peek. Lily could not understand what was talking them so long, but was finding it very hard to interfere through a brick wall.  
  
James had given up pretending to work and was flying with his 'friend' outside. They both knew the real reason James had asked Christian out to fly, Christian Wood was the seeker for Ravenclaw and he and James often flew together before their first match to size each other up and evaluate the opposition.  
  
"You going to the ball tonight?" Wood asked.  
  
"Sure, you?"  
  
"Yeah, who you going with?"  
  
"Lily Evans, I think. How about you?"  
  
"Kara Morgan,"  
  
James nodded; Kara was Mia's twin sister. Their faces were almost identical, but Kara had grown her hair long whereas Mia's was cut short in a bob.  
  
"What do you mean you think?" Wood asked.  
  
"I think we're going together,"  
  
"You haven't asked?!" he asked in astonishment.  
  
"No. I didn't think I had to,"  
  
"Do it now," he suggested  
  
"Ok. I'll find her after,"  
  
Christian looked pityingly at James.  
  
"Oh" said James suddenly understanding.  
  
Lily was in her room pretending not to sulk. Everyone was managing so well there was nothing for her to do. She had been watching James practice for a while but he had landed on the ground and was talking to his friend so she assumed he was finished. She turned her back to the window and nearly jumped out her skin when she heard a knocking on the window.  
  
'What the hell is that?' she thought before turning round and seeing James floating at the window, smiling his grin, that made her knees wobble slightly. She threw open the window almost knocking James off his broom.  
  
"What?" she asked him confused.  
  
"I wanted to know if you wanted to go to the ball with me tonight?"  
  
"Yeah, I thought I was," (now even more confused.)  
  
"So did I but I thought I should ask proper,"  
  
"Oh okay, yes I'll go with you,"  
  
"Great," and he flew back off to the Quidditch pitch.  
  
Smiling slightly, she wobbled back to her room to check on her dress. Still there and still in it's plastic. All she had to do was sit and wait. 


	12. The Ball

Chapter 12 The Ball

Half an hour before the ball and even Ciara was beginning to panic. The entire common room was abuzz so the girls had moved to Lily's own room. They all had their costumes on but were protecting them by wearing cloaks. Nothing was going to hurt their outfits if they could help it.

Ciara was using a spell to temporality shorten her hair. For her costume she needed her waist length hair as a bob.

Only Ellis was taking the opportunity to unwind. As she was part of the HBB she had also had the day off to prepare but she had done her only job two weeks before, so she had been relaxing all day, but a little more couldn't hurt!

Finally Lily was pinning her hair up in a similar way to how she had had it when she had met James at the masked ball. She had had to alter it slightly as her costume required her to wear a hat.

"Ready?" Lily asked.

"No! Wait!" Isabelle said as she fixed a small silver tiara across the front of her head. It sharply contrasted with her black hair and looked stunning. "Okay,"

They all took off their cloaks and revealed their costumes. Lily and Ciara added their hats and their looks were complete.

Lily had chosen a medieval princess costume with a long white flowing dress and a typical princess hat, a cone with material suspended from the top.

Ciara was dressed in a sixties mini-dress with a white cap and knee high white boots Something Lily would never have imagined her wearing.

Ellis must have been planning her costume since she asked if they were starting with cavemen as she had a small top and mini skirt in a bright tiger print.

'No one but Ellis' thought Lily grinning.

The feather Mia was trying to fix was explained as she was wearing a thirties flapper dress, in a bright red.

Isabelle's dress was incredible. It was black velvet and had a corset tied up tight, shrinking her waist to an almost painful size. It was much wider after her waist and Lily guessed that it was from the seventeenth or eighteenth century.

"Time to go?" asked Ciara. Lily and Isabelle agreed and promised to meet Ellis and Mia, who were going with Ravenclaws, in the hall. They climbed down the stairs to the common room Lily shared with James. Down there, was an elderly wizard with a huge white beard slouched across the couch and a knight in armour pacing up and down the room.

"Prongs will you sit down?!" The wizard asked in aggravation.

"I can't help it, I just…….. wow!" James replied as he saw the girls coming down the stairs.

"You look….." he told Lily, lost for words. At that moment he could not think of a better word for beautiful.

Meanwhile Sirius was trying to tell Isabelle the same thing, more direct than James he just let his eyes travel around her tiny waist and up.

"You look great," he told her and kissed her cheek. "Shall we go?" He took Belle's hand and waited for James and Lily. Lily linked her arm through James's and they made their way to the Entrance Hall.

"Wait till you see the decorations," Sirius told them.

He wasn't exaggerating, now Lily could understand why it had taken them so long. The Entrance Hall had been turned into the outside of a typical fairytale castle. It had turrets and flags and a drawbridge leading into the Great Hall. Under the drawbridge was-

"Sirius, is that a moat?" Lily asked in disbelief.

"Complete with fish," he replied smugly.

"What are you going to do with it after the ball?" she tried to ask but was distracted by a hand on her arm.

"Can we leave this until later?" James asked, they agreed and walked into the hall.

Lily and Isabelle were basking in the jealously sent their way for having got the two best-looking guys in the school. Occasionally returning the dirty looks they were given or giving girls a look that simply said 'Hey but what can I do?"

The Great Hall was decorated as a cave, the walls were rocky and uneven with primitive drawings etched across them. The music was loud and pounding, there was no tune it was just thumping in different rhythms. Deciding that they would not be able to dance to it, they took a seat with Isabelle and Sirius. Unfortunately for them a group of dateless Slytherins were sitting behind them.

"Oy Potter, is that the best you could get?" they asked. He swore at them then asked Lily if she was going to say something back.

"No, why?"

"Because they just insulted you,"

"They got sorted into Slytherin, is there a worse insult than that?" she asked, causing the Gryffindors to chortle and the Slytherins to scowl and walk off.

"Mudblood bitch," called back one of them. James stood up to go after them but Lily held her back.

"You can make up for it later,"

"How?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure the Marauders will think of something," she replied her eyes twinkling.

Then suddenly, the decorations around them changed. The rocky walls turned into stone blocks and it looked as though it was the inside of the castle in the Entrance Hall. Tapestries appear on the walls and a large fire crackled in the fireplace that had not existed five minutes before.

The music stopped and Ciara stood up to tell everyone that dinner was about to be served. Instead of the four house tables, usually there even for ball, there were small tables just for two people and slightly larger ones for groups of four.

Lily sat with James on a small table and they made casual if slightly flirty conversation while they looked at their menus. Lily read hers and saw:

Beans and Cheese on Toast

Pork Chops

Mac and Cheese

Lamb Shanks

Strawberries and Sugar

Christmas Pudding and Cream

Confused by this unusual choice she leaned over to see if James had the same. They exchanged menus; His was completely different and said:

Spaghetti Bolognese

Sushi

Fiori di Zucchini

Roast Beef

Chocolate Mousse

Tiramis

"It's our favourite foods!" he said, having just worked it out.

"Roast beef? You snob!" She teased.

"What's feery di zooshiny?" she asked curiously.

"Fiori di zucchini," he corrected, "It's an Italian fish thing. It's good,"

Lily chose lamb and strawberries whereas James picked sushi and chocolate mousse.

"You been to Italy?" she asked as she ate.

"Got a flat there. Go in the holidays sometimes. You like sushi?"

She replied that she had never had it, and made a face as he gave her some.

"It's slimy!" she squirmed. "Chocolate mousse is much better," she sighed as she ate that as well.

"Not as good as strawberries though," he said eyeing them. Sighing she gave some to him, and he stood up. Just in time. Since everybody had finished eating the tables were disappearing one by one with a small pop. Unfortunately for Lily, the chairs were disappearing as well. Needless to say, she was slightly surprised when she found herself halfway to the floor, being caught by James.

"My hero," she said grinning.

"I try," he grinned back, feigning modesty. "Well, if that doesn't earn a dance……." He trailed off. He took her hand and they walked over to the dance floor. Around them the scene changed again. From a sober Victorian setting it transformed into a vivid 1930's club. The music became livelier into a fast jazz and Mia looked quite at home in her costume. But the floor could have disappeared beneath them and neither of them would have noticed.

Lily had never been so happy or comfortable in her life. James was much better at dancing than she had expected.

"You're a good dancer," she told him.

"We've danced before,"

"I know, but I was too busy trying to work out who you were,".

"You went mental," he chuckled.

"Not without reason," she reminded him gently. Noticing as James sped up their dance she asked him what he was doing.

"The music's wrong, we're dancing too slow"

Lily shot a meaningful look at Mia who was standing by the band. Taking the hint she gestured them and the music slowed right down.

"I don't hear anything wrong with the music," Lily said settling back into James's shoulder.

James could hardly believe it. He was dancing with Lily Evans and she knew who he was and she wasn't running away and they were having fun and her hair smelt like coconut and he had her all to himself all night. He could have died right there and he wouldn't have cared.

Eventually the ball ended and only the HBB were left to clear up the mess. The walls were now covered in large flowers for the sixties and there was an eerie silence now that the band had gone home. Ellis was sprawled out across a chair opposite Ciara who was curled up next to Remus on a sofa. James was sitting with his arm around Lily as they chatted to Isabelle and Sirius. Months of planning and it was all over but they all agreed that their evening had been a success, and in fact a number of students had asked if there was going to be another ball soon. Lily had already started mentally planning the Christmas Party. She had tried to fight it but she couldn't help how exhausted she felt, subtly trying to cover a yawn but failed and took James up on his offer to walk her back to her room. Sirius sniggered when he asked her, but James had meant it innocently enough.

James could have sworn that their rooms moved, far away when you wanted to get there and much closer when you didn't. It seemed only minutes to get there and then there was the traditional awkwardness outside the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow then. Tonight was great," he said and kissed her cheek.

"Thanks," she mumbled and watched as he span around and walked away. That was it? Her night had ended with a peck on the cheek? Ellis was going to love that.

Disappointed she turned around and began to unlock her door when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Surprised, she turned around and found herself being kissed, not pecked, but kissed properly by James. She felt his hand playing with her hair before resting on her back. She was so taken by surprise that she thought she would have fallen over if it hadn't been for his hand on her back.

James pulled back, "Night," he said grinning.

That smile was affecting her more every time.

Both smiling, Lily walked up to her room and James went back to the Hall, ignoring all the remarks and questions about his smile.

Carefully, Lily felt where he had played with her hair; it felt different and slightly heavier. He must have put something there. Despite the last five minutes Lily felt her temper rising, of all the times to pull a stupid bloody prank……….but she found what it was and pulled it out of her hair.

It wasn't a prank.

It wasn't even stupid.

It was beautiful.

It was a single pure white lily.


	13. Love The New Look

Chapter 13  
  
"It was from JAMES?" Ellis asked. Lily nodded, praying that she wasn't blushing.  
  
"Is it that hard to believe?"  
  
"That's so romantic," interrupted Isabelle. "Looks like I picked the wrong Marauder!" the girls laughed and continued to discuss The Ball and their dates.  
  
Meanwhile down the table the Marauders were having a very sophisticated discussion.  
  
"Get off last night?" Sirius asked piling jam onto his toast.  
  
"Yeah," replied James doing the same.  
  
"Tongues?" he asked.  
  
James stared at him.  
  
"Cool."  
  
Finishing their breakfast they slid down the table to the girls.  
  
"Good morning ladies," said Sirius helping himself to more toast. Suddenly something caught his eye and he stopped to stare at something on the other side of the Hall,  
  
"Prongs," he murmured.  
  
"What?" James replied staring in the same direction until he saw what Sirius was looking at. "Right!" his expression instantly changed from his regular good-natured look to a fierce glare.  
  
"Shall we?" asked Sirius. James nodded and his expression changed yet again, into one he usually used to look charming and for impressing Lily.  
  
They stood up together and made their way casually to the Slytherin table, looking every bit like the handsome, charming men their reputation said they were. Nobody bothered looking up, the two were known for dating with every good-looking girl in school. Even Slytherins.  
  
"What does he think he's doing?" Lily hissed.  
  
"That's the bitch that cheeked you," Ellis pointed out. Indeed, James and Sirius had just taken a seat either side of the pug-faced girl who had called Lily a mudblood at The Ball.  
  
"He said he'd get her back," Lily replied.  
  
"Aren't you going to do anything?" Ciara asked distressed. "He could do something really horrible."  
  
'Good,' thought Lily. "Course I'm not going to do anything. I want to see what he thought of," she said aloud.  
  
The conversation ceased and all five of them stared avidly in James's direction.  
  
James wanted to throw up. He couldn't believe that he was flirting with a Slytherin. He had to force himself to think that he was doing it for Lily to stop him from running a mile.  
  
Lily was watching with a grin. He had his hand on her back but with the tip of his wand up his sleeve, so it was just touching the material of her robes. If he cursed her she wouldn't even feel it. Sirius, meanwhile, was distracting her 'friends'. She had no doubt that he knew what James was about to do and was making sure that no one else saw. Lily scarcely saw James's mouth move as he muttered a hex, before whispering the to girl.  
  
"Love the new look,"  
  
The girl beamed at him, as he got up with Sirius and they headed back over to the Gryffindor table, clearly not having realised what he had just done to her. Sirius was stuffing his hand in his mouth and James was biting his lip, to stop themselves from laughing. Lily was about to ask what they had done, when she was interrupted by a scream from the Slytherin table. One of the Pug's friends had just realised what James had done. The girls shrieked as she caught sight of herself. By this time James and Sirius were rolling on the floor laughing. Lily almost joined them when she got a view of it.  
  
Spotty skin that had once been very pale (with the exception of bright red acne) was now covered in vivid green scales. The Pug Girl's already short nose was now non-existent replaced instead with two slits in the scales. Her eyes were yellow and her forked tongue flicked between her teeth automatically.  
  
"Nice work," smirked Lily.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Remus, "Do it once more and I'll give you detention," he added lazily.  
  
"Don't listen to him. He's always saying that," James told Lily, "But he never does,"  
  
"Because we're no stupid enough to do the same trick twice," Sirius interrupted.  
  
"You're forgetting that you can't give the Head Boy a detention," James retorted.  
  
"I can for turning a girl into a snake,"  
  
James chose to ignore this.  
  
"That's was pretty impressive, wouldn't you say Padfoot?"  
  
"Yes, but what are we going to do to it's friends?"  
  
"I have an idea. But we'll need ingredients,"  
  
"No problem. We've got potions next." Lily said looking at her timetable.  
  
"And I have the perfect way to distract Old Rew."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"Today class, you will make a cooling potion. The instructions are," he waved his wand, "on the board, and the ingredients," he waved his wand again, "Are on your desks." Professor Rew was extremely old and bad tempered. He never favoured any of his students. He hated them all equally.  
  
Lily was sitting between James and Isabelle. Eager as she was to find out what he had planned to distract the class, he told her that she would have to wait until nearer the end of the lesson.  
  
Slowly the click ticked by and everyone's potions were almost complete. Sirius was fussing around with something in his bag and subtly pulled out a firework.  
  
"That's your plan?" whispered Lily. "To throw a firework into someone's cauldron? You'll get boiling potion everywhere!"  
  
"Relax Evans. It's a cooling potion isn't it? So it won't be boiling will it?"  
  
"FINE THEN! You'll get freezing potion everywhere!"  
  
"We're doing this for you. If you don't like it just stay out the way."  
  
Rolling her eyes, Lily wandered over to James who was standing on the other side of the classroom. Surreptitiously Sirius tried to throw the firework into his cauldron, but missed. Bouncing off the floor it flew around the room, twisting and spinning before falling into a Slytherin's cauldron. Sirius only had a second to wonder at his own good luck when he saw who was working next to them. Lily and James. Desperate to get them out of the way of it he tried to signal for them to come over. Only James saw him and took it to mean 'Go to the stockroom now!' when it exploded. The potion splattered across the Slytherins as James sneaked off. They immediately began to howl in pain, as they discovered that their potion had gone completely wrong. It was not cool as the professor had said, but boiling hot, just like Lily had expected. Talking of Lily........................  
  
Sirius looked around but in the confusion could not see her anywhere. She was not standing where she had been a moment before neither was she with James, who had come out of the cupboard wearing a smugly-triumphant smile. However this quickly vanished as he saw Lily. She had fallen and was lying unconscious on the floor; her face and neck covered in burns where the potion had caught her full in the face.  
  
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"Madam Pomfrey!" James shouted as he tried to run into the Hospital Wing. He had carried Lily up from the dungeons and he set her down on a bed as he called for the school nurse.  
  
"Mr Potter, why are you yelling like that......oh my!"  
  
Still not conscious, Lily lay exactly where James had put her. Her face was badly burnt and had turned a brighter red than her hair. There were round angry marks where drops of the potion had scalded her skin, perhaps it was best that she was could not feel any of it.  
  
James could not remember feeling worse in his life.  
  
As Lily was starting to stir, Madam Pomfrey gave James a potion to give to her, to put her back to sleep, while she went to find a cream for her burns. He sat up next to her and gently gave her the potion, taking care that she wouldn't choke. He didn't want to look at her, to see what he had done to her beautiful face; but he could not force himself to look away. Praying that the nurse could help her he delicately let her back down, just as Sirius and Isabelle ran in. Isabelle gasped and ran over to Lily, but Sirius stood quietly next to James. The were standing a few feet way as though trying to distance themselves from what they had done.  
  
"Madam Pomfrey said she's going to be alright," James told him.  
  
"I'm sorry," Sirius said staring at Lily.  
  
"Why? If I hadn't been so insane about getting those Slytherins back, she wouldn't be here,"  
  
"If I had done a better throw, none of us would be here,"  
  
"That's okay, you can't help being crap!" James joked. They chuckled and returned to silence.  
  
"She looks bad," Sirius said quietly, "Will it scar?"  
  
"Don't think so. Madam Pomfrey said she's got some stuff to help,"  
  
Sirius accepted it without argument, but underneath it they were both thinking that Lily needed a miracle to get rid of her terrible burns. 


	14. Call It A Souvenir

Chapter 14  
  
James went to visit Lily everyday she was in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey kept her unconscious while deciding if her cure was working. But he was constantly edgy. He hated hospitals, as Sirius knew too well. In the third year Sirius had managed to curse his own nose off and James had refused to visit him for the whole two weeks he was in the Hospital Wing. Had it been anyone else but Lily, James would refuse to go to the Wing now.  
  
But as it was Lily, he had been to see her everyday along with the Gryffindor Girls and even Sirius. Once there had been a very awkward moment when James had found himself alone with Ellis and Sirius, all three of them watching the unconscious Lily in silence. He had tried a few brave attempts at a conversation but was met with only one word answers.  
  
"Nice day," he said cheerfully.  
  
"Yeah,"  
  
"I guess,"  
  
"What you got next?"  
  
"Lunch,"  
  
The third day after the disastrous potions lesson and James ran up to the infirmary to find Lily up and awake. In fact she was fine. Except for one thing:  
  
"Hi Lily, what's that?"  
  
"James is that you? Where are you?" her head was turning wildly as she tried to see where he was. He took her hand and said:  
  
"I'm here. What's that white stuff?"  
  
"It's called cotton wool. It's a muggle thing. Madam Pomfrey swears by it,"  
  
"Why is it on your eyes?"  
  
"To stop me using them. My eyes got burnt pretty bad too, so she's put some stuff to try to fix them as well,"  
  
Though she couldn't see him she could feel James tense up as she mentioned her injuries.  
  
"Lily I'm......."  
  
"James don't start. Please? It wasn't your fault," she told him. He looked away guiltily. Despite himself he began to apologize but was cut off by the matron who came bustling into the room.  
  
"Ah Mr Potter, I'm afraid you'll have to leave now. Miss Evans needs rest,"  
  
"But Madam Pomfrey-" they both started.  
  
"No. OUT!"  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Desperately trying not to think of the enormous dinner being served several floors below her, Lily was trying her hardest to be let out of the hospital. She could hear Madam Pomfrey writing a few feet away, and was trying her as much as possible. She tried clicking her tongue as loud as she could until the nurse snapped at her. So she then moved onto whistling tunelessly. After being snapped at again, she started to tap her long nails on the metal bedstead. It echoed all around the silent room.  
  
Madam Pomfrey sighed. She found Potter's attachment to Lily touching but it was beginning to make Miss Evans restless. She simply could not let her go yet. Her eyes were still badly damaged and her skin was still red and raw.  
  
"Miss Evans, you may try to annoy me for as long as you want, but I will not be discharging you today. So stop it!"  
  
Lily tried to glare in her general direction but the nurse's comment had got her thinking. Why couldn't she leave yet? She felt fine, and apart from her eyes there was nothing physically wrong with her.  
  
'I bet my eyes are fixed, if only she would let me take this wool off,' Lily thought. Turning over she drifted back to sleep.  
  
Hours later and she awoke, straining her ears to try to hear any movement before struggling up. Carefully she peeled of the pads covering her eyes. Everything was blurry and slightly faded, but at least she could see. Stumbling she walked over to a mirror, feeling dizzy from the head rush caused by sleeping for three days.  
  
When she looked into it she could not believe what she saw. No doubt it was just another 'Hogwarts thing' like the false stairs or the doors that weren't really there. This was just a mirror that showed a horribler version of you. Hardly daring to touch it, she stretched a shaking hand towards her face where the mirror showed scars and angry red burns. Her eyes were no longer their usual vivid green, more a watery grey; and she could feel every bump and ridge in her face exactly where the mirror showed them to be. Gasping, her knees gave way and she collapsed onto the floor.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
James was bored. He had done his Head Boy duties and was now wandering around the castle. Glancing at his watch he saw hat it was still before midnight, thinking that he could go to see Lily. Humming he wandered up several flights of stairs to the Hospital Wing. It was dark as he got there and thankfully there was no sign of Madam Pomfrey. He had learnt from previous experience that she did not take kindly to people sneaking in her hospital in the middle of the night.  
  
"Lily," he whispered. "Lily?" Muttering to his wand a small light flickered at the tip so he was able to make out where her bed was. There was an outline of where she had slept but she wasn't in her bed. Madam Pomfrey obviously hadn't let her go yet as she would have already remade her bed. He scanned around the room until his eyes rested on a small heap on the floor. Rushing over to it he immediately realised that Lily must have collapsed again. Looking around he saw the cotton wool discarded on the floor beside them and the mirror above them. She must have got curious as to what she looked like and tried to use the mirror. With some difficulty he pulled her up and carried her back to her bed. As she was still unconscious he lay her down and settled the covers around her, before conjuring a miniature lily and placing it on her pillow.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
The next day James decided to visit Lily after breakfast. Wondering if she would remember anything of the night before he wandered up and into the infirmary. Only when he got there he saw no sign of Lily, her bed had been made and her robes were gone. 'Strange' he thought. He hadn't seen her at breakfast and it wasn't like her to miss a meal.  
  
"Lily?" he shouted, "Madam Pomfrey?" When there was no answer he ran into the nurses office but she wasn't there either. "MADAM POMFREY?"  
  
"Can I help you Mr Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked coolly.  
  
"Er.......yeah. I was looking for Lily,""  
  
"So I gathered,"  
  
"So........where is she?"  
  
"I'm not sure that is any of your business Potter," she replied but seeing his distress at finding Lily had disappeared proceeded to say "Madam Pomfrey has taken Miss Evans to London. There she will go to St Mungo's and see a specialist about her burns,"  
  
"Oh,"  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"Lily's in St Mungo's?" Mia asked in disbelief.  
  
"Madam Pomfrey couldn't cure her?" Isabelle asked.  
  
"There's a first time for everything," said Ellis.  
  
"But she can cure anything!"  
  
"Obviously not burns," James replied.  
  
He had left the hospital to tell Lily's friends what had happened to her. They obviously hadn't known either, as they were just as amazed as he was.  
  
The day trickled by, much too slowly for eight of the Gryffindors who were desperately waiting for news of their friend. James was sitting alone in his room watching the clock tick and waiting for dinner.  
  
'It's a depressing game' thought James 'Watching your life tick by but doing nothing about it.'  
  
Finally the clock hands edged onto 6 and he stood up. Hearing a noise downstairs, he frowned and crept silently down the stairs. Hardly daring to believe what he saw he called out:  
  
"LILY?" he asked, his voice trying not to shake. She jumped at the noise and turned round.  
  
"James!" she ran over to him and hugged him tightly. "Look! They fixed my face!" she said just like an excited child. Her eyes had returned to their usual brilliant green and were twinkling. It's good to have Lily back, James thought.  
  
He couldn't help it. She looked so happy he leant over and kissed her. This seemed to improve her already good mood and she kissed back passionately. His hand that had started on her neck slipped over her shoulder and stayed there; until he felt a small round mark on her skin. Pulling the collar of her robes out the way, he ran his thumb around the scar.  
  
"They've missed a bit," he told her.  
  
"I know. I asked them to,"  
  
"Why? Why would you want scar yourself for ever?"  
  
"Well........call it a souvenir!" she grinned.

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Thank you for reading! Thanks to BurningIce22, Lilypad-7879,cagedphoenix, firewalker32 and certified-weirdo for reviewing chap 13 and to everyone else who has reviewed this. KEEP GOING!

Love Leo


	15. Happy BDay Lils!

Chapter 15  
  
"So what are you doing for your birthday Lils?" asked Ellis the next day. After having told and re-told the story of her trip to London, with details of every potion and spell they had used, Lily was glad to be able to talk about something else.  
  
"Well I erm..........." To be honest, what with Halloween and the burning incident she hadn't really thought about her birthday at all.  
  
"I think we should have the traditional 18th birthday piss-up," Ellis continued.  
  
"A piss up?" asked Isabelle.  
  
"Yes. You know, a lot if booze and bitching and stupid drinking games,"  
  
"Elle I don't know. Can't we just......." Lily started.  
  
"Good. I knew you'd love it," she interrupted.  
  
"I'll tell people today," offered Mia.  
  
"Well that's sorted then," said Ellis looking thoroughly pleased with herself.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"It's too late for you. You've got lessons tomorrow, now go to bed!" Ciara snapped at a group of first years, who looked terrified at the attention they were receiving.  
  
"But it's Sunday tomorrow! We ain't got lessons on a Sunday,"  
  
"Are you calling me a liar?" Ciara asked, her eyes flashing.  
  
"No miss!" and they scurried off upstairs. Ciara sighed and leant back into a chair.  
  
"Isn't power a wonderful thing?" she laughed. The girls were getting ready for Lily's party in the Gryffindor common room. They had discussed using Lily's private room, but decided against it. There was much more space in the common room.  
  
Lily was there along with Isabelle, Ciara, Ellis, Mia, Kara, Darcy and a girl called Rachel. Mia informed her that Rachel was one of Ellis's greatest friends and had invited her even though Lily hardly knew her.  
  
Elle poured out a shot of fire whisky for everyone and made a toast to 'Lily's 18th birthday. Happy B-Day Lils!'  
  
"Now, we all know what we get like when we're drunk so I have come prepared," Ellis told them. She handed a blanket and pillow to Ciara who was infamous for collapsing when drunk.  
  
"And special for Lily" Ellis declared as she threw a small box over to her.  
  
"Cheers Elle!" she replied grinning.  
  
Soon they were playing the stupid drinking games that she had promised. They had altered the traditional game of Truth or Dare, to only truth. They sat round in a circle and a wand was spun in the centre. Whoever it pointed at when it had stopped spinning had to answer a question. It was complicated by having sparks shoot out the end at regular periods, every time it shot sparks at you, you had to drink a shot.  
  
It landed on Ellis first but fortunately for her did not shoot any sparks. Lily, remembering the story James had told her of the awkward moment in the Hospital Wing, and how Sirius had been very sarcastic about her, decided to ask something that had been bugging her since Halloween.  
  
"I've got one! What is it with you and Sirius?"  
  
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," Ellis replied innocently.  
  
"You're not another one of his girls are you?"  
  
Isabelle glared at her, as though daring her to answer.  
  
"Not exactly," she replied, carefully wording her answer.  
  
"What do you mean?" The girls asked, now sensing a prime piece of gossip. (It was at this moment that Lily noticed with dismay that she was turning into her mother.)  
  
"Well.......like I said.......there's a first time for..........everything," she smirked.  
  
Seven gasps later, and they were all ready to hear every detail.  
  
"You were the very first?" Darcy asked astonished.  
  
"You were the first one to shag Sirius Black, the best bloody shagger in the school?" someone asked. It could have been either Mia or Kara.  
  
"The very same!" Ellis replied grinning.  
  
"When?" asked Lily, sighing as red sparks shot at her.  
  
"Drink and I'll tell you!" After watching Lily have a shot she continued. "Isabelle, please stop giving me the evils, it was a long time ago!"  
  
"WHEN?" asked Lily trying to ignore the sparks.  
  
"Drink, drink, drink, drink!" they chanted.  
  
"Now tell us everything!" commanded Rachel.  
  
"Fourth year, after a ball, god bless the Room of Requirement!" she toasted. They all laughed and joined in her toast.  
  
"Okay, so who's next.........I SWEAR YOU'VE FIXED THIS BLOODY WAND QUINN!" Lily shouted as yet again sparks shot out at her.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Two hours later and they were all very drunk. They had found out things about each other that they didn't want to know and were sitting in silence. Ciara had passed out half an hour before, and Lily was hanging upside down over the arm of a chair making full use of Ellis's gift.  
  
"Lily will you put that out? It's making the room stink?" Ellis moaned.  
  
"Fuck off," Lily sighed as she blew puffs of smoke around the room.  
  
"You're such a lady!"  
  
"I want to play a game," Ellis whined ten silent minutes later.  
  
"Why?" asked Lily, "You can't take your drink,"  
  
"Can!"  
  
"Can't!"  
  
"Can!"  
  
"Prove it!"  
  
Ellis suggested a shot comp with the rest of the bottle. Ten minutes later, the bottle was empty and they were both in hysterical giggles.  
  
"Oh god! I am horribly drunk!" murmured Lily. "I think I'll go home now. Yeah," she got up and staggered up to the stairs leading to the dormitories.  
  
"Er.....Lils? You don't live here!" Mia told her.  
  
"I don't? Where am I supposed to be going then?" Lily asked completely confused.  
  
"It has stairs," Elle volunteered.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Unfortunately in their drunken dazes, none of them remembered that Hogwarts have almost a hundred staircases and the one they were looking for was in a room, not in a corridor.  
  
"I don't know Mia, it looks a bit big,"  
  
Mia had come running back to tell them that she had found some. The stairs in the Entrance Hall were extremely wide and very high. Lily was very uncertain that that was the way to her room. Then suddenly she recalled where it was.  
  
"I know, I know!"  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lily was starting to have a bad influence on him, James decided. It was a Saturday night and he was alone in his room doing work. As the noises outside grew so distracting he stopped to wonder what it was, just as Lily tumbled into the room. Hastily shoving his glasses back into his pocket he got up to help her up.  
  
"Are you alright?" he asked.  
  
"Hi James!" she whispered coyly. "I am now!"  
  
"Er....good," he turned back to finish what he was writing. It was no good talking to her if she was completely rat-arsed. Huffily she stared at his turned back and stalked upstairs to collapse on her bed. Struggling to take off her robes, she grabbed to first things she could find to sleep in. This happened to be a very small pair of pjs, which would have been fine, if she had not decided to complete the look with her Halloween princess hat.  
  
She lay in a half awake daze for almost an hour, before deciding to get up.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
James was terrified.  
  
He had been asleep for almost an hour when a shadow appeared in his doorway. Instinctively he'd reached out for his wand.  
  
"Hi James!" it giggled. James tried to strain his eyes to see into the dark.  
  
"Lily? It's two in the morning! What are you doing?" He had muttered a spell to turn the lights on so he was able to see her. "Still not sober huh?" he said as he saw what she was wearing, and how much she was wobbling as she gripped the doorframe for support.  
  
"Lily just go to bed," he had told her. Immediately she had brightened up and to his dismay climbed in next to him. He had tried to wake her up, to tell her to go back to her room, but she had passed out, and would not be awake for hours.  
  
What the hell was he supposed to do?  
  
So he did the only thing he could think off. Scrabbling around to find the small mirror, he always kept near him. Though it was not for vanity, he looked straight into and whispered for Sirius.  
  
"Padfoot!" When there was no answer he tried again.  
  
"Padfoot! Sirius Black you lazy sod GET UP!" Suddenly, eyes half open, Sirius appeared.  
  
"What?" he snarled. James shifted the mirror so that Sirius was able to see the unconscious half-naked Lily, sprawled across his bed.  
  
"Nice work!" Sirius smirked, suddenly awake.  
  
"It wasn't me you fool! She's pissed and she's just collapsed. Do I just take her back to her room?"  
  
"Oh no, no, no! You do not want to go into the girl's rooms. It is incredibly embarrassing and......ugh! Not pleasant," he grimaced.  
  
"So what do I do?" James asked desperately.  
  
"Just go to sleep!"  
  
"Thanks!" James replied sarcastically, "If only I had thought of that!"  
  
"If you're going to be like that!" Sirius growled and shoved his mirror under his bed.  
  
"Git!" James sighed as he put his mirror away. No doubt Sirius would have no trouble in returning to bed, but then he wasn't Sirius. Sighing he grabbed a blanket and got himself comfy on their sofa.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Lily awoke with a start, and alarmed, found that she had no idea where she was. Desperately trying to retrace the events of the night before, she tried to work out where she could be. She remembered going to bed, and then.............and then she had gone to see James. Shit! This must be his room, so she must be in his bed.  
  
Oh no! She couldn't have! Surely she would remember, she wasn't Sirius for god's sake! Where was he? There was a dent in the pillow next to her so he must have been there sometime during the night. Clutching her head she struggled up. She felt like hell, and wobbled out and across the landing to her own room.  
  
Once dressed, in something more sensible than a vest top and princess hat, she staggered down the stairs, having discovered that she was still in time for breakfast.  
  
"I really must learn the sobering charm," she thought to herself. Her mind was racing. How was she going to face James? What was she supposed to say to him? To everyone else? Would James have told the Marauders already? Would she be known as that drunk girl that slept with James Potter?  
  
She could have jumped for joy when she saw him asleep across their sofa.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Really? Siruis wouldn't have done that!" Isabelle said. Lily had just finished telling them about finding James on his sofa.

"He's such a gentleman!" Ellis said.

"Remind me never to have a piss up for my birthday!" Isabelle groaned. She had become 'slightly' depressed after finding out that not only Ellis, but Darcy, Kara, Mia and Rachel had also dated her boyfriend. So she had drunk and drunk and was now regretting it.  
  
"I feel like shit!" Ellis told them having gulped down a mug of coffee.  
  
"Well, I hate to say I told you so........." Lily replied smugly.  
  
"Don't look at me like that Evans! You're feeling just as shitty as the rest of us!"  
  
Lily however was feeling much better than her friends. Her relief had overcome her hangover and she felt like she was ready for anything.  
  
'Well......perhaps not quite everything' she realised as the Marauders strutted into the Hall. 


	16. It is going to be a very long Christmas!

Chapter 16  
  
The rest of the term passed without much happening. A Quidditch match became the talk of the castle for a few weeks but as it was between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, nobody took much notice. The main event for the Gryffindors Seventh Years was a fight, one late night, between Isabelle and Sirius.  
  
Their personalities complimented each other and everyone agreed that they were very well suited. Isabelle had a fierce temper that was contrasted by Sirius's laid-back attitude to just about everything. They had not had a fight since they started dating, so their argument was completely unexpected.  
  
Nobody knew what had happened, as Isabelle came storming into the Common Room, with a tear stained face, shouting at Sirius.  
  
"SIRIUS BLACK! YOU ARE SO.........I'M GOING TO ..........." Isabelle searched for the words she wanted to say,  
  
"Siete un tal maiale!" she screamed.  
  
The entire Common Room had stopped and was watching the fight with interest. James was sitting with Remus and Lily, his arm around Lily who was going to sleep on his shoulder. However when she heard shouting she rubbed her eyes and became as enthralled as the rest.  
  
"Why is she talking Italian?" James asked Lily.  
  
"She grew up there, she still speaks it when she's stressed enough," Lily whispered back.  
  
Sirius, however seemed to have no idea what she had said. He paused thinking for a while, before something in his mind clicked.  
  
"Spiacente!" he yelled after her. This seemed to have the effect he was hoping and she turned round, half way up the stairs to stare at him.  
  
"Sirius speaks Italian?!" Ellis asked in disbelief. She was leaning over the back of the chair that Lily and James were sitting on.  
  
"Look like it," replied Lily.  
  
"But he can barely speak English!"  
  
"When you've finished bitching about my best mate......." James said. Ellis took the hint and went to sit down; Lily settled back and fell asleep.  
  
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Soon 'Christmas' was the only thing that could be heard in the corridors. Everywhere you went you could hear people muttering 'Christmas' or 'Holidays'. Lily and James had to supervise the decorations. "We weren't that cheeky in the first year," James complained. Incredibly bored of having to decorate every tree in the castle, he and Sirius had bullied some first years into doing it for them. Well........tried to bully them.  
  
Lily and Ciara had patiently explained that they didn't have to do every tree by hand. All they had to do was to enchant the decorations to put themselves on and they would be done in no time.  
  
"The book's in the library," Lily told Sirius.  
  
"Right.....er.........."  
  
"Second floor, third left!" Lily shouted after him.  
  
"Thanks Evans!"  
  
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"Lily?" James called up the stairs to her. "Can you come down for a second?" Confused she crept down the stairs to find four very solemn looking Marauders sitting on the sofa, facing her.  
  
"Evans," Sirius told her seriously, "We would like to give you your Christmas present from us," Lily cringed, knowing them this was either going to be very stupid or very dangerous.  
  
"We have discussed it at great length, and we would like to make you an honorary Marauder," he told her.  
  
Lily had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing out loud. They all looked so sombre, it was hard to take them seriously.  
  
"Really? I don't know what to say,"  
  
"Yes?" James asked hopefully. This was obviously something they had thought long and hard about.  
  
"Sure, I would love to be a Marauder!"  
  
"Honorary Marauder," Sirius corrected. "Do this mean I have to call you Lily?"  
  
"YES!"  
  
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"What am I supposed to buy her?" James asked in despair. It was the last Hogsmeade weekend before Christmas and it beginning to snow.  
  
"Why do girls have to be so bloody hard to buy for?" Sirius asked. The Marauders had gone Christmas shopping. James-for Lily, Sirius- for Belle and Remus for Ciara.  
  
"What do you think I should buy?" Peter asked eagerly. The rest of the boys glanced at each other.  
  
"I did it last time!" Remus pointed out, holdinghis hands up. Sirius and James stared at each other.  
  
"I'll do it next time!" James said. Sirius rolled his eyes.  
  
"Fine! Look mate," he said almost kindly to Peter, "She's never going to go out with you, you could buy her diamonds and it wouldn't change it!"  
  
"You don't know!" Peter said defensively.  
  
"I know Mia's type and you're not it,"  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"I have," he smirked, "...............first hand experience,"  
  
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"And then they told me that I could be 'an honorary Marauder!" Lily said trying hard not to laugh. The girls around her burst into giggles at the thought of them trying to be serious. They too were in Hogsmeade but had given up trying to shop and were getting a drink in the pub.  
  
"Why do boys have to be so bloody hard to buy for?" Lily asked in frustration.  
  
"Sirius doesn't want anything!" Isabelle said.  
  
"I wouldn't say that. We all know what Sirius always wants!" Ellis smirked.  
  
"Nothing I can buy!" Isabelle glared.  
  
"THIS ISN'T HELPING!" Lily shouted. Her head felt like it was going to explode, she had to much to think about...........  
  
"I've got it!" she said surprised by her own brilliance.  
  
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"Two weeks," murmured James, "Is a very long time,"  
  
"I know," Lily replied sleepily. Despite their previous agreement, all the Gryffindors were going home for Christmas and would not see each other for two weeks. Lily and James were making full use of the time they had left and were now dozing in front of a fire.  
  
"Come and stay with me?" he asked, the idea having just suddenly appeared in his head.  
  
"Ok," she was so comfortable and sleepy, she would have agreed to almost anything. Besides she had worked so hard to get James; she wasn't going to let a little thing like Christmas get in the way.  
  
"Oh no!" they said together, sitting up.  
  
"I said I'd go home!" Lily said.  
  
"I was going to..........oh well. It was just an idea.,"  
  
"Isn't there.............?" Lily pleaded.  
  
"Maybe," he said thinking.  
  
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They had decided to stay a little longer than the rest of the school, they had missed the train to London and were wandering to Hogsmeade. Ciara arm linked through Remus's; Lily and James hand in hand; and Isabelle and Sirius also hand-in hand having made up after their fight. Ellis kept throwing jealous looks at the happy couples while Mia was desperately trying to ignore the hopeful looks sent her way by Peter.  
  
Lily was going over in her mind the plans they had made. They would all go to Hogsmeade, (not being able to apparate from Hogwarts) where they would apparate home.  
  
Lily and James would go to her house as she had promised to visit her family. Secretly she was dreading that. Her dad would interrogate and grill James from the moment they arrived; Petunia would look down her pointy nose at him and her mother.....well she couldn't bear to think of what her mother would be like. From there she would do the traditional tour of relatives, she was always forced to do. Visiting great-aunts and uncles as well as cousins she didn't know she had. They would spend Christmas day at James's parents house, and from there they didn't know what they were going to do.  
  
There were hugs and kisses and more hugs as they all said goodbye. One by one, Lily and James watched them all disappear as they disapparated home.  
  
"Where's Sirius going for Christmas?" Lily asked as she watched him disappear alone.  
  
"Don't know. Probably just back to his flat," James told her. "Hopefully" he added silently.  
  
"Ready?" They both pictured Lily's house and in an instant they were there. Hesitantly, Lily knocked on her front door and watched as her mother bustled up to open it.  
  
"Lily darling! Merry Christmas!" and then as she saw James, "James dear! It's so good to see you! Isn't it lovely to see you two getting along! Do come inside!"  
  
Lily sighed before following her mother.  
  
It was going to be a very long Christmas.

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Thank for reading! (Don't know if italian is right? If it's not let me know please.

Please review it (It's the little button that says 'Submit Review'and you write what you think!)

Thank you to: Marauder4eva (sorry theres no christmas ball!) Ceritfiedweirdo (I'm not going to get loads of reviews unless u write them am i?) Godesgaia, Malibu, LivingDreams. Keep reading!

Love

Leo


	17. All I want For Christmas

Chapter 17  
  
The day passed so slowly for Lily. She was constantly on edge, hoping and praying that no one was going to say anything wrong. That her parents.......her mother would tell an embarrassing story of something humiliating Lily had done when she was three. Or that Petunia would make some snidey comment about magic, or that her father would start judging James. And then there was James. Lily inwardly groaned at what he could tell her parents. 'Oh by the way Mr and Mrs Evans, do you know what your perfect Head Girl daughter did the other day? She got so drunk that she woke up in my bed with absolutely no memory of what she'd done.'  
  
Fortunately everyone was on their best behaviour. There were no questions, no stories and no 'guess what your daughter did the other day.......'  
  
"So, how was your birthday Lily dear? Did you get our present?" her mother asked. James looked round curiously.  
  
"It was good thanks," Shame she couldn't remember it. "Yeah I got your present. How did you know I wanted that?"  
  
"Your friend (Ellis is it?) sent us an 'extensive' list of everything she thought you wanted," her father smirked. James saw in an instant who Lily had got her grin from.  
  
"I am going to-" Lily didn't have a chance to finish off what she was going to do to her friend as her mum announced that dinner was ready. Petunia decided as Lily had her boyfriend for Christmas; she was going to invite Vernon round. They all made polite conversation while Petunia and Vernon tried to outdo James in everything.  
  
"So James, Lily tells us you're excellent at Qui-"  
  
"Sports," her father interrupted. Vernon was a muggle after all.  
  
"Really? Well I wouldn't say excellent......." James replied, grinning at Lily.  
  
"What no ego today?" Lily whispered.  
  
"Did I tell you that Vernon's on the school boxing team?" Petunia asked loudly.  
  
"Really?" their parents asked.  
  
"Only one team? James is on every sports team for our house,"  
  
He was on the Quidditch team and that was the only sports team for Gryffindor, Lily thought. She was becoming quite the Marauder already.  
  
"Vernon's a prefect!" Petunia said glaring at her sister.  
  
"James is Head Boy," Lily replied smugly.  
  
"Vernon's just been offered a job at a large company,"  
  
"Really?" Lily enquired politely, "I didn't know Weight Watchers was taking on staff,"  
  
"LILY! That's enough from both of you!" her father reproved. But Petunia couldn't resist it.  
  
"So what does 'darling James' do?" she asked sneering. Lily had been praying that she would ask that.  
  
"Oh James doesn't work," Beside her he was trying to become very interested in his food. ("This is delicious Mrs Evans!")  
  
"Scrounger!" Petunia muttered.  
  
"No. It's just that unlike some," Lily looked directly at Vernon, "He can afford not to," Next to her, James groaned and she realised that she had gone to far.  
  
"Look it's starting to snow!" he quickly pointed out.  
  
"Lovely. Why don't you kids go out and we'll tidy up?" her dad offered. They all agreed and Lily ran upstairs to get some warmer clothes. Grabbing the winter set Isabelle had given her for Christmas.  
  
They crunched through the snow in silence for what seemed like miles.  
  
"Why did you have to do that?" James asked quietly.  
  
"I'm sorry. It's just she always thinks she's so much better.........it drives me insane!" Lily complained kicking snow into the air. "You're so lucky you don't have a sister,"  
  
"Yeah I guess. Doesn't mean I don't know what it is like to have a girl drive me crazy," he grinned.  
  
"Sorry. But I can't be that bad, you're still here," she reasoned.  
  
"Yeah," he sighed taking her hand, "I'm still here."  
  
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Finally Christmas morning came and their stay at the Evans's was over; they could leave. Lily could feel relief floating off of her as she disapparated to James's house. They seemed to have arrived somewhere in the country as they were surrounded by large fields. They stood together at the end of a long drive that lead to a house somewhere in the distance.  
  
"What are your parents like?" she asked gripping his hand tightly, she was so nervous.  
  
"They're okay I guess. You couldn't let go a bit could you? It's just I can't feel my fingers," she did, and he flexed his hand before finding hers again.  
  
"What do they do?"  
  
"Dad works in the Ministry, Mum does other stuff,"  
  
"Whereabouts in the Ministry?"  
  
"Floo Network at the moment. It's not very interesting. Here......" he dragged her off the road to a small gap in a hedge, just through it she could see his house. And was promptly terrified.  
  
"You live there?"  
  
"It's my paretns house,"  
  
"That's not a house! It's a bloody mansion!"  
  
"No, no, no, no! You're not leaving me to face my parents alone," he grabbed the back of her new scarf, the only part he could reach, as she tried to run away  
  
"Are they that bad?" Lily noticed with alarm that they were dangerously close to the front door. He was saved answering by his mother opening the front door. She pulled them into a quick hug.  
  
"Hello you must be Lily," she said, "Sorry Jamie but I'm busy with lunch, we can talk later. Why don't you show Lily her room?"  
  
"Jamie?" Lily grinned.  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
Lily immediately liked Mrs Potter. She was so different from her own mother. More sensible and straightforward, unlike Lily's bustling mother who fussed over everything.  
  
She returned to the kitchen and started chatting with someone who sounded just like-  
  
"Morning!" Sirius said. Lily looked at James in disbelief.  
  
"What are you doing here? You moved out!" he asked.  
  
"Merry Christmas to you too!" Sirius replied pretending to be offended.  
  
"MUM!"  
  
"Well I was...." She began to explain, "in Diagon Alley, doing a bit of Christmas shopping when I bumped into Sirius. He 'just happened' to mention about fifteen times, how he had no plans for Christmas and how he would probably spend it alone in his flat, so I invited him round. Now are you going to show Lily her room, or are you just going to let her stand out in the hall with all her bags?" James grunted an apology, took her bags and showed her the way upstairs.  
  
Lily was about to go through the first door on the landing, but James walked right past it........and the second........and the third.........and the fourth. Lily was beginning to think that she was going to have to sleep outside when James finally opened a door and lead her into one of the most beautiful rooms she had ever seen. The ceilings were high and were decorated in a way that seemed both elaborate and simple at the same time. She was sinking into the thick carpet and she walked to the huge bed in the centre, putting her bags down on it.  
  
"Bathroom's through there," he pointed. And he left her to unpack. She had about a month's supply of clothes for the week that she would be staying there. As she didn't know what it was going to be like, she had packed old clothes, and posh clothes, and muggle clothes and wizards robes.  
  
"I've brought some towels up for you dear. No doubt James didn't think of it," his mum said as she walked into Lily's bathroom. "No decorations!" she said horror struck. "Honestly! I told Henry that you would be staying here and to put up some decorations. He can be such a miserable bugger sometimes!"  
  
"Never," she advised Lily, "Marry a man who doesn't like Christmas!" Lily could hear James and Sirius yelling out Christmas carols from the other side of the house.  
  
'I don't think there's any danger of that!' she smiled to herself. His mum conjured some holly, tinsel and even a small Christmas tree out of nowhere. Satisfied she also left Lily to unpack.  
  
Now that there were decorations were up Lily was feeling much more Christmassy. It was very rare for her, but she even began to sing.  
  
"I don't want a lot for Christmas........" she sang as she put her clothes away.  
  
"All I want for Christmas.............is you!" she finished her song just as James sneaked up behind her to make her jump.  
  
"Anyone I know?" he whispered putting his arms around her.  
  
"Doubt it," she replied. How could she have thought his eyes were boring and dull? They were just the right colour, and were twinkling away at her. They kissed until they were interrupted by gagging and retching sounds.  
  
James only paused for a second, to say  
  
"Piss off Sirius," before carrying on.  
  
"I'm sorry to interrupt but if you could just prise yourself off of her, lunch is ready,"  
  
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Their Christmas dinner could not have been more different to the dinners they had had at Lily's house. The conversation came easily and it was not in forced politeness. Lily was relieved to find that there was no bitchy comments or arguing.  
  
Halfway through dinner Mrs Potter decided that it was safe to mention the event set for the next day.  
  
"Have any plans for tomorrow you two?" she asked cautiously.  
  
"No, why?" James asked suspiciously.  
  
"Well, your dad and I were talking about having a little 'get together' tomorrow night." James sighed and banged his head on the table.  
  
"A party?" Sirius asked, suddenly interested.  
  
"Not the kind you're thinking of," James replied. Lily couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Sirius's crestfallen face. He was about to ask more, when Mr Potter stood up and asked to talk to James outside.  
  
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"How about this?" Lily asked nervously holding up yet another dress. James was lounged across her bed, casually spinning his wand round his fingers.  
  
"James! I have four hours to find clothes and get ready! Do you realise how little time that is for a girl?" James however was clearly not listening.  
  
"You want to go for a walk?"  
  
She was clearly not going to get anywhere while he was in this mood so she agreed.  
  
They walked through snow across his garden and past a frozen lake. Amusing themselves for a while they slipped across it, pretending to ice-skate.  
  
They were almost a mile away from the house when Lily noticed that it was only an hour before the party started. She dragged him back to the house, panicking in case she didn't have enough time to get ready.  
  
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'Where the hell is she?' James wondered. He was waiting outside her room for her and had been standing out there for almost 40 minutes.  
  
"Lily? Hurry u- WOW!" he said staring at her.  
  
Having finally emerged from her room, she was wearing a black silky halter neck dress, her eyes and nails were dark and her hair hung in messy curls.  
  
"Is this alright?" she asked, smoothing down the front of her dress nervously. He couldn't think how to say it. All he had to say was yes, but he couldn't manage it. All he could do was to stand staring and attempting to speak. Which made him look rather like a goldfish.  
  
Grinning nervously, he took her hand and they walked downstairs. Halfway down, she paused.  
  
"What is wrong with you?" she asked. Her looked confused at her.  
  
"You're gripping my hand so tight it's starting to match my nails!"  
  
"You did it to me yesterday," he reasoned.  
  
"Only because I was terrified about meeting your parents, but you can't be scared about that because you've already met them!"  
  
"Ok," he sighed, "you know my dad wanted to talk to me yesterday? He's trying to get me a job at the ministry during the summer and there's people he wants me to meet,"  
  
"Oh,"  
  
They continued to walk until they got to the rooms the party was being held in. It defiantly wasn't Sirius's kind of party, people were standing around in suits or evening dresses eating things on sticks and the only alcohol available was glasses of champagne being handed out. Nevertheless he was there, and like James he was wearing a formal suit.  
  
"Ev-Lily wow!" he said. Isabelle wandered over and joined them.  
  
"Belle, what are you doing here?" Lily asked.  
  
"Dad was invited, he thought I might like to see you. Great house James."  
  
"Thanks," he muttered. They were about to start a conversation when Mr Potter went over to drag James off to meet some Ministry official.  
  
"James, this is Mr Fudge. I believe that he works in your father's office Lily," he said as he introduced them. James shook hands very quickly so that he could take Lily's hand again.  
  
"You don't want to work with him," Lily whispered so only James could hear her.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Useless, crap at the job. Probably be fired by the summer,"  
  
They politely made excuses and went back over find Isabelle and Sirius. Except they couldn't see them anywhere. Lily craned her neck in a very Petuniaish way trying to find them but she still couldn't find them. Eventually they gave up and accepted that Isabelle and Sirius must have left together. Though where, they didn't know. They could not have gone outside as a fierce blizzard was blowing and they hadn't heard anyone disapparate.  
  
After having met 17 different ministry workers, and they were both bored out their mind. After the 16th James had finally worked out that if he switched sides, he wouldn't have to keep letting go of Lily to shake someone's hand. He had managed to keep her away from the champagne, perhaps the only thing in the party able to entertain them.  
  
"Can we go?" James asked her earnestly.  
  
"Where to?" she asked. They couldn't disapparate anywhere and the storm was still blowing. "We can't leave the house, and your mum will come looking if we just disappear," James seemed to think for a moment before suddenly having an idea. He ran into the kitchen and scribbled 'Gone to flat. James' sticking it onto their fridge he ran upstairs leaving Lily to totter behind him.  
  
"What are you doing?" she asked as he hurriedly began to shove clothes into a bag.  
  
"Taking some stuff to wear. You don't expect me to wear a suit when I don't have to do you? You might want to get some stuff to,"  
  
Once packed they stood together in his fireplace, he grabbed a handful of Floo powder and muttered something Lily couldn't understand.  
  
Lily had never had a more violent Floo journey. Obviously she was used to travelling in this way, but they seemed to be thrown all over the place.Outside she could hear a city bustling. One thing was certain, she knew as James helped her up, they weren't in the country anymore.

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	18. Buon giorno James

Chapter 18  
  
Aching, Lily stretched out her arms and legs. She had never had a more violent journey. Wrinkling her nose she could swear that she could smell the sea. They seemed to be in a lobby of a hotel or block of flats. In front of them a man was working behind a counter.  
  
"Buona sera," said the man without looking up.  
  
"Buon giorno," replied James smiling slightly.  
  
"James?" Lily tried to ask, but the man behind the desk finally seemed to realise that they were there.  
  
"James, è quello voi? Poco James Potter? Non li ho visti per le età, deve essere anni. Abbiamo pensato che vi foste dimenticati circa noi!" he gabbled at them. Lily could not understand a word of what he said, other than James and Potter. She was about to ask James what he said but he was already over and talking to the man.  
  
"Come potrei fare quel Signor Martlio? Non è stato anni, Ero qui di estate, ricordisi di?" James replied just as fast.  
  
"Sì, naturalmente. Chi è la vostra signora bella?"  
  
"Questo è Lily, ma non parla italiano," Lily looked up at the sound of her name.  
  
"What did you say? Who's Bella?" she asked James quietly.  
  
"Bella isn't anyone. It means beautiful. I said that your names Lily, but you don't speak Italian,"  
  
"WE'RE IN ITALY?" she asked amazed. James suddenly realised that he hadn't told her where they were going. He told the man something Lily still couldn't understand and picked up their bags. Still in awe, Lily followed open-mouthed up a grand sweeping staircase. Uncomfortably aware of the noise her heels were making, she tried to walk quietly but found that she couldn't keep up with James. Around them old portraits whispered and pointed at them. Some even shouted greetings to James. Finally they reached the top and James muttered a spell to open it. He held the front door open for her and looked round and sighed as though he was finally home. Lily could tell by his expression that he loved being here. He looked almost proud.  
  
Throwing open the windows James wandered onto the balcony and called Lily out. Several floors up, it had an amazing view over the town. A sixteenth birthday present, he had been coming here every holiday for years but he was still fascinated by the view.  
  
"Wow!" Lily breathed beside him. She looked out over the city, across markets starting to close, restaurants starting to open, people going home from work and people going out for the night. She looked up at the starry sky and down at the boats moored below.  
  
"James, is this Venice?" she asked in disbelief.  
  
"Yeah. You like it?" he asked sounding nervous. She almost laughed. Here she was, with her boyfriend, in one of the most romantic cities in the world. What's not to like?  
  
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Two hours later and still dressed up, they were sitting in a restaurant neither of them could pronounce. As James had said 'crap on sticks just doesn't fill you up the way it used to.'  
  
He had tried to teach her words that might be useful such as yes, no, beer and ice cream.  
  
"What did you order?" she asked. As it was neither beer nor ice cream she hadn't understood.  
  
"It's this thing with liver,"  
  
"Liver?" repeated Lily, looking vaguely green.  
  
"Yeah, raw liver.....and spinach," he said, clearly enjoying the look on her face, the colour of which was now matching her eyes.  
  
She could have hit him when the waiter brought over two plates of spaghetti.  
  
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Seven hours after they had arrived and they were stumbling back into his apartment. It was way past midnight and they both were dizzy with tiredness. It was all they could do to collapse onto the sofa. There they stayed until James woke up quite late in the morning. Carefully untangling himself from Lily, so as not to wake her he was about to get a shower when there was a small pop in the fireplace.  
  
"Knock, knock!" said his mum grinning. Her grin vanished as she saw Lily asleep on the sofa. "Sorry, I'll come back later," And she disappeared. Grabbing some cleaner and more comfortable clothes James headed for his shower.  
  
Slowly Lily began to wake up. She wanted to go back to sleep so badly, she had been having such a nice dream. She was dreaming that James had saved from a boring party and taken her to Venice. They had gone to a romantic restaurant; they had eaten the restaurants supply of ice cream before getting a gondola back to his flat. Lily knew that once she woke up she would be back at his parents house, or worse........back at her house.  
  
She also grabbed some clothes and went to find the shower. James had obviously finished just before her, there was no sign of him and the bathroom was full of steam. Running a bath, she sighed as the curls she had worked so hard to get just washed out.  
  
James opened the window to let Sirius's owl in. He must have sent it sometime during the party for it to get there so fast. The trouble was Sirius's writing was untidy at the best of times and he had obviously written the note in a hurry. James squinted to try to read it but he needed his glasses. He fumbled in his pockets for them before realising that he must have left them in the bathroom.  
  
"Morning," she said as James came in. When he didn't answer she tried again.

"Hello?" Waving her hand in front of his face. "James? Are you................blushing?" she asked grinning.  
  
"I......erm..........just.........glasses," he stuttered. He hadn't even known that she was in the bathroom let alone in the bath.  
  
"James, relax, you are allowed to see me like this," she said flicking bubbles at him.  
  
He seemed to have recovered. He just smirked in reply.  
  
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James had asked her whether she wanted to go back home or stay in Venice for a few days. Stupid question really.  
  
For the morning she had dragged him around all the touristy places she wanted to see. Bored out his mind, by museums and galleries he had taken her to the places that he usually went. The whole city was preparing for the New Year and was covered in shops for masks and costumes.  
  
"What happened to your mask?" he asked Lily as they tried some on.  
  
"It's in my room. Couldn't leave it behind," she laughed. "What about yours?"  
  
"Erm.....must have lost it," he said guiltily remembering how he had thrown it across the garden. Having bought two more masks they wandered through the streets before getting some dinner.  
  
"When's you birthday?" he asked curiously.  
  
"November 17th. You're asking a lot of questions. Why?"  
  
"Is that when you came in pissed?"  
  
Lily could either just admit it or pretend that she got so drunk that she had no idea what he was talking about.  
  
"When I what?"  
  
"Stop it!"  
  
"Seriously, I don't know what you're talking about,"  
  
"You're lying aren't you?!" he grinned.  
  
"I........you..........I...." He stared at her. "Yes," she said sulkily.  
  
"What did you get?" he asked, trying to think what he could buy her.  
  
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They went to the same restaurant for dinner before going back to James's flat. His mind was racing. They were home earlier than they had been the night before, so there wasn't much chance of them collapsing on the sofa. Should he put her stuff in another room or expect her to stay in his?  
  
Lily seemed to be thinking along the same lines as they said goodnight very awkwardly.  
  
"There's a room through there," he pointed. He had tried to clean it quickly as the last person to stay there was Sirius, and unsurprisingly it was not exactly tidy.  
  
But neither of them could sleep. James was too worried that Lily hated him, and Lily was fuming.  
  
She had got changed and was lying in bed when thoughts and questions started to hit her. Was she that gross that he didn't want to be anywhere near her? And then she thought of Isabelle's comments at Halloween. 'He's such a gentlemen' 'Sirius wouldn't have done that.' Why was so perfect the entire time? He had carried her bags, and held open doors and slept on the sofa. No one else would do that. He had been nothing but good to her since they started going out. What was wrong with her?  
  
Deciding to ask, him Lily burst in and raged at him.  
  
"WHAT IS WRONG? WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SUCH A PERFECT BLOODY GENTLEMAN THE WHOLE TIME?" she shouted.  
  
"You hate me because I've been nice to you?" he asked completely bewildered.He would never understand her.  
  
Sensing that he shouldn't apologise he did the only think he could think of. But not like he normally did. He held her tighter and kissed her harder than he ever had before. She tried to pull back but he didn't let her. Finally he let her move.  
  
"That's more like it!" she grinned.

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Thanks for reading. Sorry i keep saying this but PLEASE REVIEW IT!!!!!!!!!! Thank you-

Certified Weirdo (Heres you thank-you note!) LivingDreams (In a good way or bad way?) firewalker32 diamond004() BurningIce22 Nomi-clawskull (Just seen hp3 loved it!)


	19. So That's Prongs

Chapter 19  
  
Lily woke as an arm curled round her stomach, a smile starting to spread across her face. For the second time she found herself in an unfamiliar room. James's room. But this time she knew where she was, what she had done, and she felt great.  
  
Not wanting to wake James suddenly, but getting very bored not being able to move, she traced a pale scar on his cheek with her finger until he woke up. Somehow she had never noticed it before, but then she had never been this close to him for such a long space of time.  
  
"Whassat?" he muttered groggily.  
  
"You've got a mark," she told him. He felt where her hand was as he remembered.  
  
"Oh that, Snivellus," he spat.  
  
"After the OWLs," Lily remembered.  
  
"Yeah," he said, seeming surprised,  
  
"You don't forget something like that in a hurry. We'll all need therapy for years,"  
  
"Yeah, that was good. Maybe we should do something like that soon," James replied thinking.  
  
"Just promise me one thing?" she asked. "Never take his pants off again?"  
  
"Definitely," he agreed, "That is something you never want to see twice,"  
  
The rest of the holidays seemed to blur. During the day they wandered around the streets going to restaurants, cafes, shops and shows; during the night............well lets just say that Sirius would have been proud. New Year passed and they had joined the rest of Venice in the celebrations. Getting back at half past four, they were completely exhausted.  
  
Two hours later and they were dragging themselves up. Term started the next day and they had to be back in London by morning. They cleaned themselves up and were all packed when James produced a wrapped up box.  
  
"Happy birthday," he said giving it to her. Carefully she unwrapped it and found a book. It wasn't a normal textbook; it was more like a notebook. The pages inside were blank but were made from the marbled paper she had seen so much of in Venice. The front and back covers were a thicker card and stuck on the front was a red rose. It was beautiful; there was no doubt about that.  
  
"Thought you might get fed up of lilies," he smiled. He was so relieved that she loved it. He had spent ages looking around the city to find something she would like. But James did slightly regret giving it to her as he spent the next hour waiting for her to find somewhere safe to put it.  
  
"Why is this so rough?" she asked as they stepped into the fire.  
  
"Because we have to go through Italy, France and England to get here and back," He could have told her more but was suddenly aware that they were standing in a roaring fire as his toes began to tingle.  
  
Seven hours after their Floo journey and they were back on the Hogwarts Express. James was going to sleep against the window; Lily against James; Sirius against Lily and Isabelle curled up next to him. Sirius, predictably, had a hangover from New Years Eve and was scowling at anyone who moved or spoke too loudly.  
  
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The first event for Lily and James of the term came at the end of February.  
  
"James?" Lily asked him one night. He grunted in reply.  
  
"Belle was talking about her and Sirius's first date tonight," she told him.  
  
"So?" It was the middle of the night, he had Quidditch practice for five hours and he was exhausted.  
  
"When was ours?" For a second, James stopped pretending to sleep. He had no idea when the first time they had gone out was.  
  
"Was it when we went to Diagon Alley?" she asked.  
  
"I thought that wasn't a date!" he grinned. She scowled at him.  
  
"The ball?" he suggested.  
  
'This can't be good!' they both thought guiltily. They hadn't even been going out for sixth months and they had forgotten the first time already.  
  
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"We on for tonight?" Sirius asked James at breakfast the next morning. Concealing a yawn, James agreed and helped himself to coffee.  
  
"I'm going out with Lily tonight," he told him. At the look on his friends face, he quickly added-"But I'll be done by the time you're ready,"  
  
Sirius obviously didn't believe a word he said.  
  
"I promise!"  
  
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Bored out her mind by the day's lessons, Lily returned to her room to sleep for a bit before dinner. Nothing seemed to make her more tired than History of Magic. Professor Binns was incredibly old-so old that the Marauders were taking bets of 2-1 that he would snuff it during a lesson.  
  
She closed her eyes the moment she walked through her doorway, and walked blind over to her bed. Collapsing on to it something didn't feel right. Maybe it was the different material under her, or maybe it was the sound of something snapping. Getting back up she turned around and looked to see what she had broken. A beautiful dress, now with an arse-print right in the middle, was lying underneath two, now broken, lilies. James again. What was he up to this time?  
  
"Are you ready yet?" James called up to her.  
  
"Almost!" He still hadn't told her his plan.  
  
"What are we doing?" she asked confused as she came downstairs.  
  
"We are having a first date," he told her, offering his arm. He had used the Room of Requirement; tonight it was the perfect setting for a romantic dinner.  
  
"This is great. Do you make this?" Lily asked as she ate.  
  
"I..........want to say yes," he said grinning, "But I borrowed an elf. Can't cook to save my life. Why do you think we eat out so much?"  
  
Laughing they finished their meal and went for a walk in the grounds. No one else was out, it was warm outside for a night in February, and the moonlight was shining through the trees was the only light outside. Something flicked in James's brain but he ignored it and it disappeared. Something moved in the trees close to them causing Lily to shudder. Something was still niggling at James. A howl in the distance brought it slamming back to him.  
  
Remus.  
  
Thinking quickly, he realised that he could get Lily home and still get back in time to help Remus.  
  
"Lets get back," he said.  
  
"Why? It's still nice out here," she pointed out.  
  
"Yeah, but.......it's cold...........don't you think it's cold.............you must be cold..........lets go back," he stuttered, looking around desperately and running his hand through his hair. He was losing time.  
  
"What is up with you?" Lily asked completely confused. Somewhere James could hear someone yell, it sounded like Sirius. He didn't have time for this. He would just have to make his excuses and leave. Not more than two seconds later Sirius came stumbling out of the trees, badly bruised but fortunately scratched.  
  
"James! It went wrong! We need Prongs! Now!" he gasped.  
  
"What's Prongs? James what the hell is going on?" Lily demanded.  
  
"Lily, I'm sorry," he told her, his eyes pleading with her. "But I have to go," He kissed her quickly before following Sirius into the trees, leaving her behind, very bewildered.  
  
But Lily was determined to know what he was up to. Slightly behind, she followed them. She watched Sirius disappear in to the dark and then as James looked around before turning his wand and pointing it at his forehead.  
  
What followed was one of the weirdest and most gruesome things Lily had ever seen. James seemed to be shrinking and growing at the same time. His head and neck were much smaller but seemed to be growing again, just at a different angle. His expression was set into concentration. Horrified, she didn't know whether to stay in her hiding place or rush out to help him. She watched as his knees buckled and he landed on the floor, when he didn't get back up again she found she couldn't stay still any longer. The ground underneath crunched as she crept over to him, as he turned around to see what was making the noise, she saw that his eyes were no longer hazel. They were black and starting to stretch out of shape. Turning, he saw her hiding next to one of the trees. Horror-struck, he tried to tell her to run, but his face was rapidly changing into a long snout. It could not have taken more than a few seconds but for Lily and James, it seemed to take forever.  
  
The stag took one last look at Lily before charging off into the forest.  
  
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"Lily?" James said softly, not sure if she was awake. Lily stared back at him, not sure how to react. She had just found out that her boyfriend was an animal. Literally.  
  
"You can't tell anyone," he told her. Lily understood just how much trouble he would be in if she did. This wasn't breaking a stupid school rule, like normal. He would get in a lot more trouble for breaking the law.  
  
"Course I won't!" they sat in silence for a while until Lily spoke.  
  
"So that was Prongs,"

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thanks for reading. Thank you ceritfied-weirdo, emilythesmarmy, melody-dance, haley and burningice22 for reviewing it.

Leo


	20. Gryffindor vs Slytherin

Chapter 20  
  
Soon the terms Hogsmeade trip came up. And it couldn't have come sooner for the seventh years. Despite having the run of Hogwarts and all it's grounds, they were starting to feel cooped up, and they all needed a holiday. Everyone in the school was excited about the weekend, even the younger years- those too young to be able to go to Hogsmeade. The Quidditch final was on the same night.  
  
Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.  
  
Everyone was certain that Gryffindor would win. After they had the legendary James Potter didn't they? The Slytherins seemed to realise this and became determined to get him either before or during the match.  
  
The competition in the school was vicious. Both houses went out of their way to curse the other.  
  
The Slytherins seemed to be getting very bitter about this. James had ordered that the whole Quidditch team went around school in groups, to try to make hexing them harder for the Slytherins.  
  
James was one of the best duellers in the school. He could easily hold his own against any hex from Slytherin. Lily however............. She found herself, several times being dragged out of the way of a badly-aimed hex. She had begged James to teach some useful curses and he had willingly agreed. The last thing he needed was for Lily to be killed two days before his big match.  
  
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"Isabelle, will you relax?" Lily asked. They were in Hogsmeade with James and Sirius who were up at the bar buying drinks for them all.  
  
"I really don't think we have anything to worry about from a fifty year old bar maid!" she said, barely containing a giggle as Isabelle narrowed her eyes at Madam Rosemerta, the owner of the pub in Hogsmeade. Sirius and James had clearly just said something funny; as Rosemerta burst into laughter spilling the pints she was carrying.  
  
"Down girl!" Lily said, smiling at Isabelle's glare.  
  
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"Try this one!" Sirius said shoving a handful of sweets in James's face. So far they had tried one of everything in Honeydukes. Feeling slightly sick they were going round for a second time. The owner had started to have a go at them, but being James and Sirius they managed to charm their way out.  
  
"It's made from blood!"  
  
"Maybe it's for vampires," Lily said.  
  
"Hey we should buy some for Snivellus," Sirius joked. "Are you going to try it or not?" he added in the special voice he used when he wanted to provoke James into doing something. Slightly mocking and half daring, challenging him to do it.  
  
Raising an eyebrow he took it and immediately regretted it. Wincing he swallowed it.  
  
"I do not want to know where that came from!" he muttered pulling a face.  
  
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James, as usual, was the last one of the team to be ready. Going through some of the moves he had learnt in his head, he barely noticed where he was walking. Which is probably why he fell down the stairs.  
  
Landing in a heap at the bottom, he groaned, tried to stand up and promptly collapsed again. His ankle hurt like hell, knowing his luck it was probably broken. Obviously his friends rushed over to him, and helped him to stand.  
  
"SHIT!" he groaned.  
  
"It looks broken. You should see Madam Pomfrey," Lily tried to persuade him.  
  
"NO! I mean, we don't have time. Can't you fix it?" he asked turning to her.  
  
"I'm not a nurse!"  
  
"Just make it stop hurting,"  
  
"Aw! Make poor wittle Jamesies ankle stop hurting, pwease Lily?" Sirius teased.  
  
"Say that again, and YOU won't be fit for the game either," James snarled.  
  
"I don't know James, it could make it worse," Lily replied looking confused. Obviuosly she wanted him to be able to play, but she didn't wan to be responsible if he got injured even more.  
  
"I'll be flying, I won't be using it at all. Please? I can't miss this game, it's the last one I'll ever play,"  
  
"We'll ever play!" corrected Sirius. Sirius, Ellis and Mia were also on the team. A beater and two chasers.  
  
"Fine!" Lily muttered a spell and a red light shot out the end of her wand, it wrapped itself around James.  
  
Supported by Sirius and Remus he limped down to the hall and out into the grounds. It was getting late and the air was cold.  
  
"Perfect flying conditions," Ellis commented as they got on their brooms. Lily, Isabelle, Ciara, Remus and Peter had gone to find a good seat.  
  
The game was brutal from the very beginning. James had had his hand crushed as he shook hands with a Slytherin but he didn't care. Climbing on to his broom, a wave of emotions hit him. This was better. This was where he belonged. If he could have his way he would have a broom instead of legs. Nothing else ever gave him the same rush, and besides the wind did a better job of messing up his hair than he ever could.

Soon it became obvious just how badly each side wanted to win.

Mia was hit by a bludger a quarter of the way though and had been knocked unconscious. In retaliation Sirius hit a bludger straight at the opposing captains head, also knocking him out. The whole Slytherin team grouped together and flew directly at the Gryffindor keeper. A small third year, he had been terrified and fell off, landing in the sand feet below the goal hoops. In payback Ellis had 'accidentally' thrown the Quaffle at a Slytherin beaters face and had broken her nose.  
  
James was trying his best to cover for the missing keeper but they would never win if he kept hanging around the goal hoops.  
  
Halfway through James called for time out, to count his remaining players. They had lost a beater, a chaser and their keeper. Fortunately the other team had also lost three players so they were about even. But in all the fuss of counting players and demanding extra penalties from Madam Hooch, no one noticed a large seventh year boy creep over to the crate of balls. Several spells flashed out his wand, and he crept back to the stands.  
  
"We can win this," James told what was left of the team. "We're thirty points ahead at the moment. If I can catch the snitch soon, this will be over and we'll have the Quidditch Cup again!" he gave them instructions and they got back onto their brooms again.  
  
But soon, it became obvious that something wasn't right. One of the bludgers seemed to be determined to follow James around. Soon he was flying as fast as he could but it was still trying to get him. It flew directly at his broom, but he went into a dive and it just missed him.  
  
"That's a rogue bludger!" Lily whispered. Beside her Remus swore. That was all they needed, in the last ever match they would watch, to see James get smashed to pieces.  
  
Fifty feet above them and James was beginning to panic. He had never seen a bludger fly so fast. There was no sign of the snitch and he couldn't keep ahead of the bludger forever. He needed to find it soon. Sirius was next to him, trying valiantly to hit the bludger away before it broke his best friend into little pieces.  
  
Suddenly James saw a little glint of gold. Speeding after it he tried to ignore the fact that he was being chased by a furious metal ball.  
  
'It was just another seeker, that was all,' he pretended. And he could out- fly another seeker. After all he was the best bloody seeker Hogwarts had had in years, he thought to himself. Although Lily had attempted to tame his ego, he doubted that it would ever disappear completely. He was just too damn good.  
  
He never did figure to how he managed to catch the snitch, even when he thought back years afterwards.  
  
Holding it up, he grinned from ear to ear as the school erupted into cheers. They had won the Quidditch Cup. For the fourth year running! The rest of the friends sprinted onto the pitch congratulating and hugging and screaming and cheering. James was so happy that he forgot about the bludger for just one second. But it was long enough. Smashing into the arm he was holding up he felt a familiar snap. But it didn't matter that he now had a broken arm to match his ankle, he had just won the Cup!  
  
But the bludger wasn't finished yet. Hitting James squarely in the chest he stumbled and fell back, gasping for breath. Madam Hooch immediately took care of the ball. Winded, he was helped back up again and the few team members that were left were carried back into the school.  
  
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The party in the common room went on all night. The professors kindly turned a blind eye to the celebrations. All the sweets bought that morning were spread out until everyone felt sick.  
  
But James didn't feel right. Despite winning the cup there was something that he could not shake off. Nothing hurt him exactly, he had got his arm and ankle fixed after the match, but something just didn't feel right. He was probably just tired, he reasoned.  
  
Starting to feel slightly dizzy, he staggered up to his room, making his excuses on the way. He was the hero of Gryffindor and no one wanted to see him leave. Once he was there, he leant on the edge of his bed and had a coughing fit. Feeling something at the corner of his mouth, he wiped away some blood. No doubt something from Hogsmeade. Sirius had fed him all sorts of crap in Honeydukes.  
  
Around him the room span out of sight. He must have been more tired than he thought. He just had time to hang on to the end of the bed before it faded altogether.

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thank you for reading! Please review this chapter, PLEASE!!!!!! This was meant to be the 2nd chap and has been sitting in my head for months. Finally i've got round to writing it so please elt me know what you think.

Thanks to burningice22, firewalker and lilypad7879() for reveiwing the last chap.

Leo


	21. It's Not Too Late, Is It?

Chapter 21  
  
Lily found him first. One arm around his four-poster, but it hadn't stopped him cracking his head on the floor. She had come looking for him after he had disappeared from his Quidditch party. As it involved his three favourite things, she couldn't understand why he would leave for so long.  
  
Running over to him, she rolled him over. Although her brain was telling her that he wasn't asleep, she refused to believe it until she had tried to wake him up. She called his name and shook him gently. It usually worked, but not this time. Panicking, Lily's mind went blank. She walked up and down the room trying to clear her head, but it didn't work. So she did the only thing she could think of.  
  
"REMUS!" she screamed, "SIRIUS!" But as they were still in the Common Room she didn't really expect for them to hear her, though she screamed as loud as she could.  
  
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Remus and Sirius were sat together in the boy's dormitories, studying an old piece of parchment. Which was working much too slowly for their liking.  
  
'Messrs Moony Wormtail Padfoot and Prongs, proudly present.........'  
  
"We know! We wrote you! Hurry up!" Sirius half shouted at it.  
  
'Mr Padfoot would like to remind you that patience is a virtue," the map told him.  
  
"I'm talking back to myself? Remus, this is supposed to be us talking; I've never said that in my life! Don't even know what a virtue is," he said slightly confused. Remus smiled slightly but decided not to explain the idea of morals to his friend.  
  
"Piece of crap, maybe we should rewrite it?" Sirius added.  
  
'Mr Moony would like say that a map is only as good as its maker!' Since Sirius had begun to silently fume, Remus decided that it would be better if he took over.  
  
"It's alright, James is in his room," he said, looking carefully at the map.  
  
"Are you sure?" Sirius asked.  
  
"The Marauders Map never lies,"  
  
"With Lily!" Sirius smirked after grabbing the map.  
  
"At least, I think it's alright," Remus added looking concerned.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"He's not moving,"  
  
Sirius stared at him.  
  
"He's in his room with Lily. What do you expect them to be doing? A cross country sprint?"  
  
"No but you'd think he'd be moving slightly. She is," Remus pointed out. The small dot named Lily Evans was pacing up and down the room. Though they had no way of knowing, she was terrified. What was she supposed to do? Just leave James on the floor to find help? Or just stay where she was?  
  
"It can hurt to check if he's ok? Can it?" Remus asked, still worried.  
  
"James has left his own party, to go to his room with his girlfriend. And you want to walk in on them?" Sirius asked, "Well, you're a braver man than I am," but seeing that Remus was still not happy agreed to go.  
  
"I'm telling you, mate, it'll be fine. I bet there's nothing wrong with them," Sirius said, as they were about to climb through the portrait to Lily and James's rooms.  
  
"He's probably just asleep or they were just......" he was interrupted by a scream from above them.  
  
"REMUS! SIRIUS!"  
  
They paused for a moment and stared at each other before sprinting up the stairs in search of Lily. Remus ran over to James who was still lying on the floor. Sirius took hold of Lily's shoulders, his good mood completely gone.  
  
"Lily, what happened?" he asked urgently. She shook her head and tried to get her voice to work.  
  
"I..........I don't know. I just came up here and found him like this," she stuttered. Looking at Remus she asked what was wrong.  
  
"He's covered in blood," Remus said as he looked at James.  
  
"He's cut his head," Lily told them as she peered around Sirius, "Probably where he fell down,"  
  
Whether it was the noise or just a coincidence but James was beginning to stir. Not properly awake he stared at them all blearily.  
  
"He needs to go to the hospital wing," Remus said anxiety written across his face.  
  
"No!" James said looking up in alarm, "Won't!" he muttered sullenly as he sunk back into unconsciousness.  
  
"You can't!" Sirius said, looking at Remus as though he was mad.  
  
"He has to!" Remus hissed back.  
  
"How do you think he's going to feel when he wakes up there?!"  
  
"What's going on?" Lily asked, completely confused.  
  
"He's got a better chance of waking up there, than he has just lying on the floor,"  
  
Both Lily and Sirius recoiled at this. The thought that there was something seriously wrong with him had occurred to them, but so far they had managed to ignore it.  
  
"Look, why don't we just leave it till morning? Everything looks different in the daylight," Sirius said fairly.  
  
"Good idea," said Lily,  
  
"And what are we supposed to do with him during the night?" Remus asked. He was determined to get James to the hospital, however much he hated them.  
  
"I'll stay here with him," Lily volunteered.  
  
"No, I'll stay," said Sirius.  
  
"That depends if you want to sleep in a double bed with him," Lily smirked. "I mean, I knew you were mates but I didn't know you were that close!"  
  
"Lily can stay," he told Remus hastily.  
  
None of them slept that night. Except Sirius, he was sleeping a few feet away, on their sofa. He wasn't too worried about James. They had been through worse together. So what if he couldn't think of any examples? Knowing everything they had done, he was sure that they had.  
  
Remus had returned to the dormitories, the full moon was approaching and he needed all the sleep he could get.  
  
Lily was drifting into and out of sleep; worry was keeping her from closing her eyes for anything more than a few minutes. Every time she woke up she would watch James for a while, just to make sure that he was still moving.  
  
Beside her James was dreaming.  
  
He had just caught the snitch and he was holding it up for everyone to see. The whole school was cheering, and he could see Lily in the crowd, screaming with the rest. He was so happy he thought his heart would burst.  
  
For a second he thought it had.  
  
A crippling pain caught his chest. He fell down, but no one seemed to notice. Not even Sirius who was standing right next to him. Normally he didn't even have to say that anything was wrong for Sirius to notice; but now here he was. Sprawled across the floor in agony and they did nothing.  
  
Then it was gone as suddenly as it came. And his dreaming went back to black.  
  
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Lily was beginning to worry. She had taken the day off lessons to look after James. Naturally Sirius had volunteered but the teachers would be extremely suspicious if both James and Sirius were off on the same day.  
  
With them it was different. Remus calmed her, and Sirius could make her feel better about anything. While they were there, she knew that James was going to be fine, but when they disappeared, all her doubts and fears came creeping back to her. What if he wasn't? Why couldn't they just take him up to Madam Pomfrey?  
  
During the morning James had stirred and muttered in his 'sleep', but he had stopped a few hours ago and was alarmingly still. He was still breathing, but it was hardly noticeable.  
  
If she didn't know better, Lily would have said that James had a fever. His face was flushed and beads of sweat dotted his forehead. Occasionally sending a cooling spell at him she was running out of options.  
  
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He'll be fine  
  
Where is he?  
  
In his room. Lily's with him.  
  
And he'll be ok?  
  
Yes  
  
Are you sure?  
  
Wormtail!  
  
Sirius rolled his eyes at Peter. Why couldn't anyone just have a little faith?  
  
'What do you think is wrong with him?' Peter wrote.  
  
'I don't know!' Sirius replied. Why did everyone always expect him to have all the answers?  
  
Then how do you know he'll be ok?  
  
For gods sake stop being so pathetic!  
  
Peter visibly shrunk at Sirius's words but didn't say anything. Perhaps he was afraid of what he might say, Sirius was bigger than him, in more ways than just size.  
  
Meanwhile, Sirius was running out of ways to avoid Peter's questions. He wanted to think that everything would be all right in the end but he had stopped believing in happy endings a long time ago. He just had to face up to the fact, that although he wanted James to recover, things might not go his way this time.  
  
Moony?  
  
Yes  
  
What's going to happen?  
  
Remus looked up surprised. This was a very rare side of Sirius that he had only seen once or twice. Vulnerable, and almost child-like, so different to his usual image. So Remus decided that if Sirius was being honest, he would too.  
  
I don't know  
  
We should have taken him to Pomfrey, shouldn't we?  
  
Yes  
  
Is it too late?  
  
Hope not  
  
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Thanks for reading. Sorry it's been so long!

Leo x


	22. Deja Vu

Chapter 22  
  
"Thank god!" Lily ran and threw her arms around the remaining Marauders. She was very pale and her hands were shaking.  
  
"We have to take him to the hospital. Please?" Since she looked on the verge of tears, nobody argued, they just followed her up to James's room.  
  
"Jesus!" Sirius whispered.  
  
James was even paler than Lily was and his whole body was trembling.  
  
"Sirius....." Remus said quietly.  
  
"I know. We'll take him now," he replied. They used a spell to stand him up but he kept falling forward. Sirius kept having to throw out an arm across James's chest to keep him upright.  
  
It seemed to take them hours to get up to the Hospital Wing; all of them were trying to think of an explanation. Obviously they couldn't say that he collapsed yesterday and they had been hiding him in his room ever since. Madam Pomfrey would not be best pleased with that!  
  
Madam Pomfrey was behind a screen attending to a first year that had been hexed when they arrived. Sirius was about to yell out for her, but she beat him to it.  
  
"Mr Black, what have you done this time?" she called out. He looked confused, how did she even know it was him?  
  
"It's not me, it's James," he yelled back to her.  
  
"What's the matter?"  
  
"I.............we don't know,"  
  
The matron's eyes widened as she saw James, lying as white as a ghost and shaking. The only colours on his face were the traces of blood around his mouth and the cut on his forehead. Immediately she wanted to know what happened to him, her eyes glaring at them when they couldn't tell her.  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Sirius felt bad leaving Remus to face the full moon alone, but James and Lily needed him. Remus understood, there would always be more full moons.  
  
"I guess we should start," Lily suggested. Madam Pomfrey had told them to write down everything that had happened to James for the past few days, trying to find out what could possibly have happened to him.  
  
"Yesterday, erm........." he said drawing a blank.  
  
"Hogsmeade and Quidditch," she reminded him. While not openly disliking each other, they were never exactly 'close'. Needless to say, they were not looking forward to having to work together.  
  
"Look," she told him, deciding to clear the air, "I know we're not 'ecstatic' about working together, but it's going to help James. So can you just get over it? At least until James is better?"  
  
Sirius thought about it for a moment, given a choice he would much rather work with someone else (Remus or Isabelle preferably) but there wasn't a lot that he wouldn't do for James.  
  
"Still, it could be worse," Sirius, said smiling.  
  
"How?" she snapped.  
  
"I could be Peter,"  
  
"That's a nice thing to say about your friend,"  
  
Sirius shrugged. "But it's true,"  
  
Lily decided to change the subject before saying something that she would regret later.  
  
"Yesterday, Sunday..............."  
  
"What did we do?"  
  
"Sirius, do you have a memory at all?!"  
  
"I'm so sorry that I have more important things to think about than things I have already done!" he snapped.  
  
Glaring, Lily continued:  
  
"First we went to the pub, by the way you may want to talk to Belle. She thinks you fancy Madam Rosemerta,"  
  
"Everyone fancies Rosemerta," Sirius interrupted impatiently.  
  
"You may not want to tell her that," Lily smiled. "Anyway, you bought some drinks, was it something in that?"  
  
"A bottle of beer never hurt anyone. Then you went off together, what did you do?"  
  
Lily stared at him.  
  
"We had a polite conversation about the weather," she told him sarcastically. "What do you think we did?"  
  
Sirius stared at her in disbelief, "In Hogsmeade?"  
  
"Don't act so innocent with me Black, can I ask what you did when you went off with Isabelle?"  
  
"Moving on..............I don't think that it was anything in Hogsmeade that did this to him," Sirius said, quickly changing the subject, "Do I have to remind you who we played Quidditch against?"  
  
"Oh god! This is so hard!" Lily complained. "Wouldn't it be good if we could just have that day over again, then we could notice everything,"  
  
"Yeah it would," Sirius agreed, "But we'd need a time-turner or something,"  
  
"Yeah...........or something," Lily replied, she seemed to be thinking hard. Scampering up to James's room, she was running so fast that Sirius could barely keep up.  
  
"You can't just go through his stuff like this!" Sirius told her as he caught the things she was throwing around.  
  
"Watch me!" she said, distracted by her search.  
  
"Do you even know what you're looking for?"  
  
"Yes,"  
  
"What,"  
  
"A something," she told him before triumphantly pulling out a small box, "This!"  
  
He looked in astonishment at the small dish she had in her hand.  
  
"James has a pensieve? Do you know how rare they are?" he asked in disbelief.  
  
"Yeah, it took me long enough to find one,"  
  
"YOU BOUGHT THIS FOR HIM?"  
  
"Christmas," she said simply. "Anyway we can put what we remember of the day in here and then watch them back,"  
  
Sirius looked like he could have kissed her.  
  
Five minutes and a strand of thoughts later and they found themselves back in Hogsmeade following the Marauders and co.  
  
"She doesn't look too happy does she?" Sirius asked surveying Isabelle as she watched 'him' chatting to Madam Rosemerta.  
  
"Just for the record, girls don't like it when their boyfriends flirt with other women," Lily told him.  
  
"Must be where I'm going wrong," he joked.  
  
Lily had to grab Sirius's collar to stop him following when Lily and James wandered off the main street together.  
  
"Nice try, but you are not seeing that!" she smiled.  
  
They followed themselves for the rest of the day, through Hogsmeade but found nothing that could have injured James. Sirius had become very disappointed when he realised that he couldn't eat anything in Honeydukes.  
  
They were finding it quite amusing to watch themselves, although it did have his bad points: Sirius kept chuckling at his own jokes ("You still laughing at that? It wasn't funny the first time!") and Lily was dismayed to find out what she really looked like.  
  
"I swear that looked good in the shop," she frowned.  
  
"Relax, it looks fine," Sirius told her, intent on watching himself.  
  
"Did you just.................compliment me?" she asked, breaking into a smile.  
  
"I said you look fine, there's a difference,"  
  
They sat quietly until Lily broke the silence.  
  
"Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?"  
  
But of course it did have its advantages, they could talk about their friends without anyone hearing.  
  
"Remus looks a bit pale, don't you think?"  
  
Sirius shifted uncomfortably. Full moon was only two nights away.  
  
"Er................it's.......probably just the.......er....... light in here,"  
  
They waited until everyone had got changed for the Quidditch match, and followed themselves out to the pitch, the amusement of being able to watch themselves was only beginning to wear off.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"To get a seat?" she explained  
  
But Sirius hadn't planned on sitting down in the regular seats. As no one could see them he decided to have a more unusual view of the match. Grabbing Lily's arm, he dragged her down to the centre of the pitch, where they sat to watch the game. Despite knowing that nothing could hit them, they still found themselves flinching as the players zoomed past them.  
  
"Anything here?" Lily shouted over the roar of the crowd. Mia had just taken a bludger to the head, and the school was shouting for a penalty.  
  
"Don't think so. He just dodged a bludger but it missed him,"  
  
Abruptly the game overhead stopped and they walked amongst the teams as James called for time out.  
  
"This is weird," Sirius commented waving his hand through James's head.  
  
"Will you stop arsing around? We're supposed to be looking for stuff,"  
  
"Like that?" he asked, elbowing her gently. A boy was creeping over to the box of balls and had pulled out his wand. One look at his greasy hair and they knew exactly who had caused the rogue bludger.  
  
"The greasy bastard! I'LL KILL HIM!" Sirius roared and actually started walking over to him.  
  
"What you going to do? Walk through him?" Lily asked, struggling to hide a smile. Not that she was laughing because Snape wanted to hurt James, purely at Sirius.  
  
"I bet he cursed him during the game!" Sirius said.  
  
"Under the nose of every teacher in the school? Not even Snape's that stupid,"  
  
"He cursed the bludger!"  
  
"Well if it makes you feel better we'll go and sit by him, just to check,"  
  
So they spent the rest of the match sitting next to Snape, Lily determinedly ignoring Sirius cringing and making the odd comment that usually involved the words 'slime' 'cripple' and 'greasy little git'.  
  
"For god's sake will you shut up?! I'm trying to watch James," Lily snapped. Sirius muttered something about 'stalking' but shut up all the same.  
  
Despite already knowing the outcome of the match they still found themselves cheering together, along with the rest of school when James caught the snitch. Lily got up to leave but Sirius pulled her back down.  
  
"It's not over yet," he reminded her. She didn't need to watch a second time to be reminded of the violent snapping sound James's arm made when the bludger flew into it.  
  
"How did he not notice that?" Lily asked in wonder, as James hadn't even glanced at his arm, he was still grinning around at the school holding up the snitch for everyone to see. Beside her Sirius was frowning, he had had his fair share of broken bones and knew that James should have at least shown some sign of pain.  
  
"That's not right,"  
  
"You honestly expect him to be thinking of something else other than Quidditch at this precise moment?" Lily asked in amazement.  
  
"I guess," he said his frown deepening, but he was not reassured.  
  
"RUN YOU FOOL!" Lily screamed as the bludger came back.  
  
Sirius immediately thought of a hundred scathing comments but ignored them, he was also willing James to run out of the way, despite knowing that there was no way he could tell his friend.  
  
Together they winced as it hit James directly at his chest.  
  
"That was it!" Lily said jumping up.  
  
"It can't be, he's fine. Look he's getting back up," Sirius pointed out.  
  
"But he might have a broken rib,"  
  
"Trust me Lily, you know when you have a broken rib," he flinched as he remembered breaking a couple during his fourth year. That incident was not the kind of thing that you forget. "And besides, if he had broken ribs he would not have been able to do that......"  
  
The rest of the Gryffindors had just run on to the pitch to congratulate the team. James had picked up Lily and was now spinning her around, ignoring her half-hearted screams of protest, in celebration.  
  
"Also if he was badly hurt he wouldn't let you do that either," Sirius commented as they watched Lily light-heartedly slap James in revenge.  
  
"Ok, so maybe it wasn't that," Lily muttered sullenly. She didn't like being wrong. Turning round she found Sirius smirking at her.  
  
"So you were wrong?"  
  
"Maybe," she said defensively. Getting up to leave Sirius pulled her back down again.  
  
"Not before you admit that you were wrong," he smirked.  
  
"You know, you can be a cocky little bastard when you want to be, Black,"  
  
"It's a gift. So............."  
  
"I was wrong," she muttered. Sirius had never looked so pleased with himself.  
  
"And I was................."  
  
"Right," Sirius was about to get her to say it again, but the glare she was giving him was starting to frighten him. If looks could kill.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Two hours later and they were back in their party. Although it was very unlike them they were standing in a corner. They tried sitting on the sofa but people kept sitting through them, not that it hurt, it was more unnerving and slightly annoying.  
  
"You like hitting him don't you?" Sirius asked watching.  
  
"He was taking the piss,"  
  
"No," said Sirius shaking his head while watching the couple, "He wouldn't,"  
  
"Yeah, well..........." Lily said confused. It wasn't like Sirius to be so thoughtful. Maybe he had another side she never got to see.  
  
'Or maybe not' she changed her mind as she saw James and Sirius fighting.  
  
"You're hitting him just as much as I did,"  
  
Sirius didn't say anything in reply. It was true, he was hitting James just as much as Lily did, and harder too. Even if James hadn't broken anything, he should still be bruised and should be wincing. He decided not to say anything to Lily, he would wait to see if he was right.  
  
"We're getting to the end now," Sirius pointed out, swiftly changing the subject. James was making his way out of the party, presumably going back up to his room. No more than a few seconds later they were pulled back to his room.  
  
"Well that was a waste of time,"  
  
"No it wasn't," Sirius said fairly.  
  
"Really?" Lily replied raising an eyebrow. "We haven't learn anything we didn't know a few hours ago,"  
  
"I wouldn't say that,"

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Thanks to melody-dance, ceritfied-weirdo, gator-chic, Sarah, PatchLover08,Rose-Mariann-Johnston, Brianne, all-american-tease, BurningIce22, and firewalker32 for reviewing!


	23. Do You Really Think They'd Care?

Chapter 23  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
Sirius paused for a moment. He seemed to be thinking.  
  
"I'm not sure. That spell you did, to fix his ankle, what does it do?" he asked.  
  
"It didn't fix anything, Madam Pomfrey did that. It's just a simple painkiller," Lily explained.  
  
"Just for his ankle or for the whole of him?" Sirius asked urgently.  
  
"Just...........I don't.........why does it matter?" Lily asked confused.  
  
"Because if it's for the whole of him, James could be making himself worse without realising it,"  
  
"Still not following," she replied shaking her head.  
  
"You thought that the bludger hitting his chest could have broken a rib, yes?" Sirius ran a hand through his hair as he thought.  
  
Lily nodded.  
  
"And I said he couldn't because he would be making a fuss about it,"  
  
"Yeah, you said that he wouldn't be able to ignore it," She was beginning to understand what he was trying to say.  
  
"Well, he would if he couldn't feel it!"  
  
"Because of my spell, he wouldn't be able to feel the pain, so he wouldn't realise that he'd hurt himself? It only lasts a few hours,"  
  
"So? By the time it wore off he would already be unconscious. We have to go and see him, now!"  
  
"Sirius, it's the middle of the night, leave it until morning,"  
  
"Remember what happened the last time we did that?" Sirius asked grimly.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Ignoring the fact that it was now very late at night, Sirius and Lily were racing up to the Hospital.  
  
"Madam Pomfrey! James........" Sirius panted, "It's his.........." He pointed at his own chest.  
  
"Very observant of you Mr Black," The nurse said coolly, replacing some potions by James's bedside. Looking down to James, the two noticed that someone had wrapped bandages around his chest.  
  
"The bludger hit him," Lily explained.  
  
"I see. And why didn't you think of telling me this before?" she asked glaring at them.  
  
They shrugged. Their previous triumph seemed to have disappeared as they saw James, looking very small and pale in one of the hospital beds he hated so much.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"YOU SNIVELLING LITTLE BASTARD!" Sirius roared. He was stormed through the Great Hall, grabbed Snape by the collar of his robes and dragged him back out into the Entrance Hall. He winced in disgust as he realised that he was touching a shirt that had originally been white, and was now a dirty grey. He continued his ranting, oblivious to the fact that the rest of the school and teachers were following their argument with great interest.  
  
"I'LL KILL YOU!"  
  
"Really Black?" asked Snape, much quieter than Sirius was being, "You tried that once before,"  
  
Sirius suddenly seemed to realise that they were being watched, and he dropped his voice to something barely above a whisper.  
  
"Yeah?" he raised an eyebrow, "Well.....there's no James around to save your pathetic arse this time. Why he bothered the first time is beyond me. It's not like anyone would miss you," he hissed. He released the filthy shirt, and pushed Snape backwards, trying to clean his hands on his robes. He watched Snape's eyes flicker back to the Slytherin table.  
  
"You really think they'd miss you? You honestly think that they would care if you weren't there? They haven't even bothered to help you now," Sirius had chosen his words carefully. He wanted them to sting and to cause Snivellus as much pain as possible. He'd learnt from experience that the right remark could cause just as much hurt as a spell, and the marks were not as obvious.  
  
"I noticed that your little friends haven't bothered to come to your rescue," Snape hissed.  
  
"That's because they know better than that," he directed his attention back to the Slytherin table. See? They're talking about you now," They both turned to look down inside the hall. The Slytherins were smirking and pointing at them. Sirius didn't doubt that they were smirking at him, but he wouldn't let Snape know that. He had touched a nerve with his questions and insults; all he had to do now was to work on ripping that nerve to shreds.  
  
Meanwhile at the Gryffindor table, the seventh years were staring at the pair. It seemed very strange without James or Sirius or Remus. Only Peter knew where Remus really was. In the Shrieking Shack, sleeping off the effects of a full moon. It was very quiet without James's or Sirius's jokes and teasing, and without the rest of the Marauders, there was no one to distract Peter from his current infatuation with Mia. She was contenting herself with scowling at him across the table. She had tried flicking soggy cereals at him. But he thought she was flirting.  
  
"Do you think we should go over?" Lily asked Belle. She shrugged in reply. Part of her wanted to go over and help her boyfriend; the other wanted to see how the scene played out.  
  
Back in the Entrance Hall, Sirius was realising with satisfaction that he was getting to Snape.  
  
"SHUT UP!" Snape told him, he was obviously trying to sound as intimidating as Sirius, but as his voice was nowhere near as deep it didn't have quite the same effect.  
  
"When I've finished," Sirius replied coolly. "Let me see, I've done the house, the 'friends' or" he corrected himself, "The lack of friends, the hair, the looks, the fact that you never have and never will get laid, and well............we all know about the family,"  
  
In truth he didn't know anything about Snape's family but he wanted to see the effect of it on him.  
  
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Snape repeated, now very pale (even for him) and shaking with rage.  
  
"For now. But don't worry, I'll be back," Sirius turned around to leave, before pausing.  
  
"Don't even think about it!" he snarled before turning around and sending a freezing spell at Snape, who had his arm raised, ready to curse Sirius's back. He would have walked away, without sending any more curses at Snivellus; if Snape hadn't cursed him first.  
  
A long gash appeared in the side in the side of his face.  
  
"I thought you'd be a bit more original than that," Sirius said, feeling the blood trickle through his fingers.  
  
"Now we should go," Isabelle whispered to Lily. Running out, they grabbed an arm each and tried to drag their friend back to the Gryffindor table. A few years ago, Lily would have stepped in to defend Snape. But during the incident after the OWLs she had sworn that she wouldn't bother helping him again. And she had held true to her word.  
  
"Leave it Sirius,"  
  
"You're going to listen to a dirty little mudblood, Black?"  
  
"I'm dirty?" Lily asked in amazement. She stood for a moment comparing her freshly washed hair and flawless skin with the sight in front of her. He was covered in scabby spots and his hair, as usual, was slicked down on his head. "This coming from something that has never touched water in its life?"  
  
"Unless he was drowning someone in it," Sirius added.  
  
"Well, yeah,"  
  
"Well, you would know more about killing someone than I would Black," Snape smirked. Sirius's eyes narrowed, but fortunately Lily and Isabelle didn't seem to notice.  
  
Catching everyone by surprise, Sirius threw a punch, and judging by the blood and the snap, succeeding in breaking Snape's nose.  
  
"Muggle duelling?" Snape asked trying to staunch the blood that was pouring down his face. "Mixing with a mudblood and now muggle duelling? Your mother would be so proud,"  
  
"Well, I'm sure Regulus will kiss her arse better for her," Sirius replied coolly. Beside him, Isabelle was remaining her usual cool self, but Lily was fuming. Snape dared to think that he was better than her.  
  
"Leave it Sirius, lets just go," they said, and pulled him back.  
  
"Listen to the mudblood," Snape taunted as they left.  
  
"That's it!" Lily decided, she turned around and slapped Snape hard. The blood from his nose sprayed around as his head wrenched around.  
  
"See you in class, Snivellus" she said pleasantly, as she turned and walked arm-in-arm with Sirius back to the Hall. Even Sirius looked mildly impressed.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Lily joined Sirius in detention that night. Neither of them mentioned what would happen next. It was as though a few insults and a punch was the end of it. But Lily knew the Marauders too well to believe that.  
  
The attack on James had sparked a new level of hate between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors. None of them was safe in the corridors and the teachers began to dread the lessons they had with both the houses together.  
  
"You should have seen it, his face was covered in blood!" Lily told James. She had always thought that people who bothered talking to unconscious people were wasting their time. But she found to her surprise that talking to James was making her feel better, even though he couldn't answer her.  
  
"They'll get him back for you, all of them. But, I guess, you already knew that didn't you?" she said smiling slightly.

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Thank you for reading! Sorry it's taken me so long but the next chapter should be out by tomorrow.

Love Leo


	24. 5 Minutes

Chapter 24  
  
It was the waiting Remus hated most. The transformations were painful but he could bear that, it was the waiting for the first glimpse of moonlight. Naturally the Shrieking Shack had no windows, for which he was glad, but it meant that he had no way of knowing the time.  
  
It was about five to nine when Professor McGonagall bundled him down the passage, Remus guessed that only a minute had passed. So again, he was left alone with his thoughts. All of the Gryffindors, especially those who knew James well, found that their thoughts were full of him. Remus knew that Lily and Sirius were trying to find out what had happened to James, and had it not been full moon, he would have helped them. Thankfully it was the last night, after a day spent recuperating, he would be back to normal and able to rejoin the Marauders.  
  
It was his first full moon alone for years. Ever since the fifth year, James, Sirius and Peter had kept him company and slightly more human during the transformations. He had almost forgotten what it was like to be completely wolf again.  
  
He guessed that five minutes had passed when he felt the familiar pain creep up.  
  
"Here we go again."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
She hoped that Minerva had got Lupin to the Shack in time. Normally she would do it herself but Potter was taking up most of her time. Thanks to Black and Evans she had found that he had several broken ribs, naturally she had fixed them in a trice but something still wasn't right.  
  
Madam Pomfrey noticed that Sirius and Lily seemed to be spending all their time in the wing. It seemed as though Lily would be spending the night there, normally she would have forbidden it, but seeing her there touched the nurse. It reminded her of having to shoo out Potter when Lily had been burnt, and it also reminded her of her own youth.  
  
What it was to be young and in love.  
  
Shaking her head, Madam Pomfrey cleared her thoughts; she was supposed to be working. Her desk was covered in books she was trying everything she could to cure him. But after two days searching, she had drawn a blank. Still she had never failed to help a student before, and she didn't plan on starting.  
  
She had tried every spell, charm and potion she could think of and was now searching through the books looking for more ideas. Every broken rib had been mended, she thought that he may have internal injuries and had cast healing spells on those too, just in case. Even if he wasn't completely conscious, he should at least be stirring.  
  
The clock outside striking nine brought her back to earth. Sighing she returned to her books.  
  
'It's going to be a very long night'  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
It was only five to nine and Lily was almost asleep. She couldn't be bothered to go back to her room so she curled up on one of the beds in the hospital wing. She had been chatting to Sirius for the past few hours since they had come back form their detentions and found to her surprise that he wasn't quite as bad as she thought. There was even a small part of her that wished she had more time to spend with him. Immediately after thinking this she felt incredibly guilty. The side of Sirius that people saw most, Lily suspected was just a front. Although he may pretend to be laid back, he really cared. Sirius would be crushed of something happened to James.  
  
They all would.  
  
It had only been two days and she was beginning to miss him. It sounded pathetic even to her. It was worse, seeing James in front of her but being just out of reach. It wouldn't be as bad if he could just move slightly, but his lifeless body looked almost..........Lily couldn't make herself think of the word 'dead'.  
  
Vaguely she took a few of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, a gift no doubt from one of James's well-wishers. In the few hours after word had got out that James was lying seriously injured in the Hospital Wing, it seemed as though everyone in the school came to see him (bar Slytherins naturally). But by the end of the second day only the Marauders and a few close friends were left.  
  
Isabelle had come to rescue Sirius a few minutes ago. But no doubt he would be back, and he would probably bring Belle back too. The absence of Remus was starting to confuse Lily; surely he cared what was happening to his best friend?  
  
But she was too sleepy to think about that anymore. The last thing she heard that night was the clock outside the hospital striking 9.  
  
"Goodnight James," Lily whispered.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Sirius was itching to be outside. The full moon was pouring through the dormitory windows, reminding Sirius of where he should be. He should be out with Remus, not slobbing around inside with his girlfriend.  
  
"Are you okay?" Isabelle asked. Sirius was distracted, but then if her best friend were lying unconscious she would be a bit sidetracked too.  
  
"Yeah," he smiled. Concern was radiating from every inch of her face. "Yeah, I'm fine," To convince her, he looked up into her eyes. God, he loved her eyes. They were so violet and so unusual, although too sounded corny (and if you repeat it to anyone he'll say that he was drunk) but he could stare into them all day.  
  
How could he have not noticed her before this year? But guiltily he realised that he already knew the answer. Because she was quiet, because she wasn't a slapper, and because she wasn't his usual type. Running through the list in his head, he could see why.  
  
First there was Ellis-Loud, blonde, blue-eyed and very popular; and then various others, different years, different houses, but they were all loud, mainly blonde and blue eyed, but all popular. With a track record like that, it's a wonder that he noticed Isabelle at all, let alone seven years too late. A small quiet girl, with black hair and violet eyes: not exactly his usual type.  
  
Perhaps if they had got together back in the first year, they would still be together. Probably behaving like an old married couple by now, instead of just like a middle-aged married couple. But Sirius had to admit that it suited him. Maybe he was going soft in his old age.  
  
"What you grinning at?" Isabelle asked, eyes sleepy but slightly smiling. Sirius ran through everything he had thought of in the last five minutes, and grinned back.  
  
"Oh, nothing much,"  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
He was in the Common Room, surrounded by people, but he was sitting alone. As usual. Greasy nose barely an inch away from the parchment he was writing on, as usual.  
  
Sirius would have been delighted if he knew just how much he had got to Snape, that morning. As much as Severus wanted to ignore his taunts and jibes, a niggling little voice in his head just wouldn't let them go.  
  
"Would any of them really save you? Would they even care if you died? Look what Black did in revenge for Potter," at this he felt his nose gingerly, "Would anyone here bother doing that for you?"  
  
Shaking his head, he tired to clear his thoughts, but they kept returning to a small black haired boy lying in a hospital bed.  
  
He hadn't meant to hurt him that badly. People were saying that he was in a coma now, and that Madam Pomfrey didn't know how to fix him. No, he had never meant to kill him, just to scare him or a couple of broken bones at best. It would get Potter back for everything he had done to Severus, during the past seven years.  
  
He had friends here. Obviously. He was only sitting alone because he wanted to finish his Potions assignment. Due in next month. He did have friends, he must do. At that Snape could almost hear Black's voice in his head.  
  
"Just keep telling yourself that. Snivellus."  
  
To prove it, almost as much to Sirius as to himself he called out to a group of girls going down into the dormitories. With a jolt, he realised that Bella was with them. No doubt she was some distant cousin of Sirius. They had the same name, same thick black hair, and the same arrogance. But Bella was different to her cousin. She had none of that traitorous holier- than-thou crap that Sirius seemed so fond of. Just good old-fashioned pureblood values. And Severus adored her for it.  
  
"Night!" he called down after them. What he had hoped for was a goodnight back; what he had expected was a stony silence; what he dreaded he received. All of them, all five of them glanced at each other before bursting into laughter. Calling back a volley of abuse they only stopped when a large seventh year approached them.  
  
"Hey girls! Leave it......." He said, they stopped laughing instantly and Severus breathed a sigh of relief. See? Someone cared what happened to him.  
  
"Or there'll be nothing left for us!" he finished, and the Common Room roared with laughter. Grabbing his homework, Snape pushed past them and ran into the dormitories.  
  
He couldn't go to sleep yet, it was only nine o'clock. To think that only five minutes before he had been peacefully sitting in a corner doing his homework.  
  
As he settled into bed he realised with a shock that there was not a single person in his house who cared about him. And if a friend meant someone who cared whether you lived or died, his greatest friend in the world was James Potter.  
  
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Students could get very complicated, thought Dumbledore to himself as he replaced a strange silver instrument onto one of his many shelves.  
  
Of course by now he knew exactly what had happened to James and who was responsible for it. Naturally as Headmaster, it was his duty to make sure that Severus Snape was punished for it. But then another thought struck him, how many times had he overlooked the feud between Potter and Snape in the past? They had loathed each other from the moment they had set eyes upon each other, was there really anything he could do about it? Maybe he should just let it play out, students normally sorted out their affairs, quite well on their own.  
  
He knew that Sirius and Lily had found out all they could about the match. It really was quite ingenious of Miss Evans to think of using the Pensieve. She was defiantly the right choice for Head Girl. All he needed to do now was to wait for them to come to him. He could not go to them, that would mean telling them about several of the instruments that decorated his office. He could not tell them how he knew, no student would ever trust him again if they knew that he had the power to see what they were doing anywhere in the castle. Besides, he hated having to spy on them like that, but it had made most interesting viewing.  
  
Dumbledore wondered if he really needed to punish Snape. Perhaps the humiliation caused by Sirius was enough; certainly the worst was yet to come.  
  
Sighing, Dumbledore thought back to when he was as young as the seventh years. It hurt his head to think so far back, but he was sure that he had never been so complicated.  
  
On the hour dozens of things in his office chimed, clanged, whistled and hooted. The old wizard frowned to himself. He could think back easily, all that time ago to his youth; yet he could not think of a single thing that he had done in the past five minutes.  
  
Old age was really getting to him.

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The traditional 'Thanks for Reading and PLEASE REVIEW IT!' I'm going to politely ignore the fact that I only got TWO reviews for the last chapter.

Thank you to: Rose-Mariann-Johnston and certified weirdo!


	25. I’ve Been Better

Chapter 25  
  
The next week seemed to take forever. Whether the fact that there was no news of James was a good thing or a bad thing, no one had decided yet. Lily seemed to spend the whole week on the brink of tears, and soon people were taking bets as to whether she would break down and join her boyfriend in the infirmary.  
  
But if the first week went slowly, it was nothing compared to the first few days of the second. Madam Pomfrey was growing paler by the day.  
  
Eleven days after the Quidditch Final, and Lily, as usual, was walking into the Hospital Wing. It seemed to have become a habit as she had intended to go to the library before seeing how James was, but she had wandered up to the top of the castle without realising.  
  
The curtains around James's bed caught her eye the moment she stepped through the doorway.  
  
"Madam Pomfrey?" she asked. The nurse appeared around the corner of one of the screens, now with a complexion so pale that it would rival any of the Hogwart's ghosts.  
  
"Ah, Miss Evans,"  
  
"What's going on?" Lily asked, her apprehension now gnawing through her stomach,  
  
"Ah....well.....perhaps you would like to sit down," she replied as she began to explain the situation to her.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Lily sat on a bed opposite James's, trying desperately not to cry. Madam Pomfrey had never failed anyone before.  
  
Why did it have to be now?  
  
Why did it have to be James?  
  
Couldn't it have been someone that no one really cares about?  
  
Why did it have to be one of the most popular boys in school? The famous Quidditch captain, the infamous prankster, but one of the most charming and likeable boys around?  
  
And the one person Lily cared most about.  
  
Sirius was watching from the doorway. The curtains around the bed and Lily sitting in tears opposite it didn't do much to raise his spirits. If he could have done he would have run, and chosen not to find out what had happened, but he had a morbid curiosity that pulled him in.  
  
He was sitting next to her and had pulled her into a hug before she even knew he was there. At that moment she didn't know whose was hugging her, but she didn't care. When she realised that it was Sirius a barrier seemed to come down and with it all the tears that she had been storing for the past week. As she sobbed into his shoulder but Sirius kept his arms around her until she was finished.  
  
"What's happened? Is he okay?" he asked, and waited as calmly as he could for Lily to answer.  
  
"She's given up. She's bloody given up!"  
  
"She's...........what?"  
  
"She doesn't have a bloody clue what's wrong with him. There's a healer from St Mungo's there now,"  
  
"Why don't they just take him there? You went down to London," he pointed out.  
  
"Yeah...but Madam Pomfrey says.........it too............... dangerous to move him. She doesn't know if it could hurt him more,"  
  
"Jesus!"  
  
"That just about sums it up,"  
  
"As long as it fixes him, does it really matter who does it?" Sirius asked. Lily shrugged. "I mean, the sooner we can get him out of here the better. He hates it here,"  
  
"Hogwarts?" Lily asked in amazement. She could not understand how anyone could possibly hate Hogwarts.  
  
"Nah, hospitals. Terrified of them,"  
  
"He never said! He came to visit me all the time when I was in here,"  
  
"Yeah, but that was just because it was you, weren't it? I was in here for two weeks once and not a bloody sign of him. But when you were in here, he'd come at least twice a day!"  
  
Gradually they fell asleep, Sirius's arm still around Lily, though whether it was to comfort him or Lily, he didn't know.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
While they slept, the nurse and the healer worked busily behind the screen. He was about the same age as Madam Pomfrey and supposedly one of the best healers St Mungo's had. He was working quickly and efficiently enough for Madam Pomfrey's approval. He was pouring potions down James and muttered spells every few minutes. After pausing for a while, he would see if there was any reaction. If there was no obvious reaction, he would carry on; make a few more potions and mutter a few more spells before repeating the process.  
  
Though neither of them realised, something he had said was beginning to have an effect on James. He was starting to dream.  
  
He could see himself getting on the Hogwarts Express for the first time; and meeting Remus on the train, followed by Sirius who had Peter tagging along behind; he could see himself getting sorted; then playing his first Quidditch match.  
  
His life was flashing before his eyes. 'I must be drowning' he thought.  
  
In front of him, he saw the moment he fell for Lily (She had just slapped him for some comment he had made.); winning the Quidditch cup in the third year; being made Quidditch Captain; feeling jealous when Remus got the prefect badge, why didn't he get it? Then laughing as he realised how pathetic he was being; and finally the first time he became Prongs.  
  
James decided that he was drowning; he needed air. But surely drowning wouldn't hurt this much? He felt like every bone in his body was broken.  
  
Memories of the year came back. There was dancing with Lily at the Ball, planning the Halloween Ball; taking her to Venice; getting pissed with Sirius; going into Hogsmeade; and preparing to play Quidditch, but there the memories stopped.  
  
He couldn't breath, he needed air.  
  
Taking a long shuddering breath, he opened his eyes blearily.  
  
"Mr Potter?" a women's voice asked in amazement, and fainted.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Sirius awoke the instant he heard 'Potter'.  
  
He couldn't be, surely? Everyone hoped that he would wake up, but truthfully no one really expected it.  
  
Gently shaking Lily awake, they walked over to James. He could see something at the end of his bed, but his eyes didn't seem to be working properly, all he could see was two indistinct shapes.  
  
"James?" asked a voice he knew so well.  
  
"Lily?!" he croaked. His voice seemed a bit out of practice, but he would soon get it back.  
  
"How you feeling mate?"  
  
"Sirius?!" James sat up to look down at the bandages covering him, and instantly realised that it was a mistake. Even a slight movement was painful. "I've been better," he smiled weakly.  
  
"What happened?" James asked.  
  
"Well....." Lily took a deep breath and began to explain, "You've been here for...."  
  
"No, I mean at the Quidditch match. Did we win?" He looked more distressed at not being able to remember his last match than he did at being horribly injured.  
  
Lily could have hit him.  
  
"Yeah," she said, sitting down next to him, "You were brilliant,"  
  
He beamed with pride.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
James stayed in the hospital for another two weeks; the first week he spent eating his way through the sweets people brought him. As news got round that he was up and awake, a whole new wave of well-wishers and gifts appeared. Enough to keep him occupied for the second.  
  
As much as he enjoyed lying around doing nothing, it did begin to loose its appeal. Finally he was itching to get back to school.  
  
He was revelling in the part of the modest victim ("It was nothing, really!") or the war torn hero, ("Eight snapped ribs, and severe internal injuries, Madam Pomfrey said. They thought I was going to die!") depending on what mood he was in.  
  
Lily hadn't realised just how exhausted she was; she had not had a proper night's sleep for almost a month.  
  
But it didn't matter how many people said how tired she looked, James was healed, and she had never felt better.  
  
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Thanks for reading and for all the reviews: Maraudercookie, certified- weirdo, xxNight Angelxx, Stableperson, L.M. Robertson, SiriusJamesRemus'sgirl and Ashton Rushing.  
  
Emerald Eyed Cutie: Foreshadowing, whatever gave you that idea?! : )

James's girl: If you want to know what he is saying paste it into altavista. It doesn't really matter, it was just me and James showing off. It wasn't a crap review! (Just one thing- leo james rolls HER eyes Sorry, but it bugs me when people say that!)  
  
Sarah: Is James really that bad?!

Rose-Mariann-Johnston: Have fun in Japan!


	26. I'll Bring You Back A Lollipop

Chapter 26  
  
"How long are you going for?"  
  
"Only a couple of days,"  
  
"That's ages!"  
  
"Now you're sounding like a child,"  
  
"Is that so bad?"  
  
"Yes,"  
  
James made a face.  
  
"You're sulking? Very grown up!" Lily laughed.  
  
"I don't want to be grown up,"  
  
"Now you're definitely sounding like a child! Be a good boy while I'm gone and I'll bring you back a lollipop,"  
  
"A muggle one?"  
  
"Yeah,"  
  
James thought for a moment. "How long did you say you were going for?"  
  
"Two or three days,"  
  
"I can be boring for a couple of days," he decided. "But I will be waiting for my lolly!"  
  
"I'm sure you will. I'll see you later," Lily said as she put her bag over her shoulder and kissed James goodbye.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Lily took a deep breath. She hadn't seen her family since Christmas, and she was slightly dreading going home for a while. She had spent so much time away from them, that she felt more comfortable around her friends and teachers than she did around her own family.  
  
Her mother gave her the typical 'Oh Lily darling, it's so good to see you again!' her dad -the sympathetic smile and a brief hug; and Petunia the usual 'Oh. You're back.'  
  
"We haven't heard from you for ages," Mrs Evans said raising an eyebrow.  
  
"I expect there's been a lot going on," her dad added. Lily thought of everything that had happened in the last term.  
  
"You could say that!"  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"-in a coma for two weeks," Lily finished her story as they sat around for dinner. Normally they would eat in front of the TV but as Lily was home Mrs Evans insisted that they tried to be a family and that they sit around the kitchen table.  
  
"Poor James,"  
  
"Is he alright now though?"  
  
"Stuck in his room, but other than that, yeah he's fine now,"  
  
"Shame,"  
  
"PETUNIA!" But Petunia had already walked out. Nobody bothered to go after her, fights between her and Lily were common; if she was dragged back she would only fight and storm out again.  
  
Lily could hardly believe that they were even related, let alone sisters. She was quite small whereas Petunia was much taller; Lily's green eyes compared to Petunia's grey; and deep red hair compared to the blondey brown colour of her sister's.  
  
She used to wonder if one of them was adopted. Perhaps Petunia had been raised by wolves before being rescued by Lily's parents. It would explain her personality. And her teeth.  
  
Lily hadn't realised that she was grinning, until her dad asked her what she was smirking about.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Mia came to meet her the next day. Thankfully.  
  
"How was the family?" Mia asked Lily, knowing full well what Lily thought of her family.  
  
"Hmmm.... there's the over-protective mother, the bitchy sister, and the absent father. So same as ever really," Mia laughed, some things never changed.  
  
"How was yours?"  
  
"I....er....they're.....fine. Just fine,"  
  
"You did go and see them, didn't you?" Lily asked narrowing her eyes. She didn't reply.  
  
"Can you believe it's our last term?" Mia asked looking at everywhere but at her friend.  
  
"MIA!"  
  
"Ok, so I didn't go and see them,"  
  
"Of course you didn't," Lily said smiling. Mia had a nasty feeling that Lily had known all along where she had spent her two weeks holiday. "So how's Thomas?"  
  
"Oliver," Mia corrected.  
  
"I thought Oliver was boring,"  
  
"He is,"  
  
"Then why are you still seeing him?"  
  
Mia grinned.  
  
"I never had you down as a gold digger," Lily laughed.  
  
"A girl's got to eat! What are you grinning about now?"  
  
"Oh nothing," replied Lily. "I was just thinking of the bollocking you'd get if someone found out where you actually were,"  
  
"You wouldn't?!" Mia said looking horrified.  
  
"Course not. We're mates aren't we?" Lily asked. She didn't seem quite comforted.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
They made it to Kings Cross with just five minutes to spare, when Lily remembered that she had forgotten something.  
  
"You haven't seen a muggle sweet shop anywhere have you?" Lily asked Mia.  
  
"Don't think so, but there's probably one on the muggle platform. Why?" Lily didn't feel like explaining that she needed to buy James a muggle lollipop, so she told her that she wanted some chocolate.  
  
Buying the first one she could find she hurried back to platform 9 and ¾.  
  
Only to find that the train had already left.  
  
Almost screaming in frustration, Lily silently cursed James; and disapparated to Hogsmeade.  
  
Only find that it was pouring with rain.  
  
Now she was cursing him aloud and calling him every name she could think of. Even some that Sirius would have been proud of.  
  
An hour later and she was staggering back into Hogwarts, extremely pissed off and soaked to the skin. She had arrived at Hogsmeade too early for the carriages to take her back, so she had to walk.  
  
Lily decided that she would go to see James, then go back to her rooms and get showered and changed before going to find everyone else. Only her and Mia had left Hogwarts for Easter, so everyone else should be in the Common Room.  
  
As it turned out, she didn't have to look very far for the other seventh years. All of them were crowded into James's room and they all fell silent as she wobbled into the room.  
  
Why is it that the floor never swallows up when you need it to?  
  
"Merlin Lily, what happened to you?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Are you okay?" asked Remus, more concerned and less amused than Sirius.  
  
"What is it?" asked James, trying to see over everyone's heads. He was stuck in his bed, until Madam Pomfrey decided that he was well enough to go back to lessons.  
  
"Sit down Lily, Sirius stop laughing and go and get her a blanket or something!" Isabelle commanded.  
  
"WHAT'S HAPPENED? IS LILY ALRIGHT?" James shouted, now starting to panic, over the confusion in the room.  
  
"Yeah James, I'm fine,"  
  
"Just a bit soggy," Sirius added trying not to laugh.  
  
"Here's your bloody lolly," Lily said as she walked off to have a bath.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
An hour later, once she was clean and dry, Lily went back to James's room. He seemed very relieved once he saw that she was all right, and much happier.  
  
"Lily! You got any ideas on how to get back at Snivellus?" Sirius asked as she walked in.  
  
"Beat him to a mushy pulp and leave him for dead?" she said as she curled up next to James.  
  
"Something slightly less obvious?"  
  
James was eating his muggle lolly, and commenting on how boring it was.  
  
"Why do they eat these? It doesn't burn through your tongue or make you fly or.....do anything! It's just food,"  
  
He was running his fingers through her hair, reminding her that she needed to brush it.  
  
Lily froze as she pulled her hairbrush out of her bag. "Please tell me I'm hallucinating! Please, please, please!"  
  
"Elle! What colour is this?" she asked her urgently.  
  
"Blonde, brown, I don't know why?"  
  
"Can I have a look?" asked Remus, she handed it to him. Sometimes being a werewolf came in handy; his senses were much more acute than anyone else's, save Padfoot maybe, and he could tell that this smelled nothing like Lily. "Who's is it?"  
  
Suddenly James caught on.  
  
"That's-"  
  
Lily nodded.  
  
"And you've-"  
  
She nodded again.  
  
"CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN THE BLOODY HAIRBRUSH?" yelled Sirius, frustrated by not knowing what was going on.  
  
"Lily's got her sister's hairbrush instead of hers," James explained.  
  
"Oh. Is that it?"  
  
"THAT IT? It's got bits of Petunia in it!"  
  
"I didn't know you had a sister," Sirius said.  
  
"She's a muggle, a few years older than Lily," James told him.  
  
"And a bitch," Lily added.  
  
A smile was starting on Sirius's face.  
  
James recognised the expression that had formed on his mates face.  
  
"Why young Sirius Black, do you have a plan?" he asked.  
  
"That depends. Lily, how much do you look like your sister?"

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Sorry it's bad! If i didn't post it now then i would be messing it around for the next few weeks, and you'd never get your chapter!

Please review it and let me know if its as bad as i think it is.

Certified-weirdo: yes he is and it's about time too!

misakichi1, firewalker32, gldnsunsprite21: Thank you! Your reviews really cheered me up!

James's girl: YES IT'S SUMMER! it wouldn't happen to be the italien part that you don't get would it?!

Rose-Mariann-Johnston: I'm sorry I forgot Remus, it's just that i like Sirius more. Sorry! Don't worry he'll be in it much more in later chapters.

Emerald Eyed Cutie: I'm pretty sure that only half of them are words! Thank you for the compliments.

Thanks for reading. If you don't get the italien bit, let me know and i post what he is saying (Its really not that important!)

Leo x


	27. The Brilliant Plan

Chapter 27 

"Nothing like her, why?"

"Could anyone tell you were sisters?" Sirius asked her.

"Doubt it. Sirius what are you thinking of?"

"You remember that potion Professor Rew mentioned..." Sirius began hesitantly, obviously putting the finishing touches onto his plan. Everyone looked back blankly.

"You actually listened to a teacher?" Ellis asked in disbelief. Sirius scowled at her and continued.

"The one that turns you into someone else. Wouldn't it be embarrassing for a certain person we all know and love, to fall for someone who wasn't real?" he smirked.

"Huh?"

"This is hard to explain, so just shut up and listen...."

"I think I get it," said James. "You want to make this potion to turn one of us into Lily's sister? You get Snape hooked and then turn back to normal?"

"And there will be no proof that this girl ever existed," Sirius finished with an evil grin.

"You're a bastard, you know that Black?" James asked, but the same evil smile was beginning to creep onto his face.

"What do you think?" Sirius asked.

"I think you've lost your mind," James replied still grinning.

"Lily?"

"You don't want to know what I think," she snorted.

"Anyone?" Sirius looked around for support.

"Sounds like laugh," agreed Ellis. Ciara shrugged.

"If you like," said Isabelle.

"I think it's brilliant!" said Peter. Remus lowered his eyes and stayed silent.

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They were sitting back in the Common Room after dinner, when students who had left for the holidays started drifting in.

"LILY! HAS ANYONE SEEN LILY?" Mia burst in, causing the whole room to go silent.

"Yeah, I'm here," Lily replied peering around the armchair she was sitting in.

"I AM GOING TO BLOODY KILL YOU! YOU WERE ON THE TRAIN AND THEN YOU..............I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" she screamed.

"I know, I'm sorry! I missed the train and I had to apparate and then walk in the rain. If it helps I had a shit time and got soaked to the skin,"

"You did?" asked Mia looking slightly mollified.

Lily nodded, "Hair went flat,"

"Oh! Well, you deserved it,"

"I know," Lily answered quickly.

"Mia! Mia! Oy, Morgan!" Sirius yelled out, "You haven't heard the brilliant plan!"

"Sirius give her a break, she's just arrived,"

"But she needs to hear this," Sirius explained the plan, then asked, "You in?"

She grinned at him, "I'm in,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Getting the book for the potion was not too hard. Lily Evans, the perfect Head Girl with a perfect record had been able to get the book without too many questions. Nobody doubted that the book wasn't for her final potions project. Now it was bubbling away in the boy's dormitory and should be ready in a couple of days. Only they still didn't have anyone to drink it.

"So this turns someone into my sister?" asked Lily watching Sirius stir the cauldron.

"Once you add a bit of her. You still have the hairbrush right?" If she didn't a months worth of work would be useless.

"You know she's ugly don't you?"

"She is?" Sirius's face fell.

"Well.......not ugly so much as.........horsey,"

"Horsey?"

"You'll understand when you see her,"

"It doesn't matter. A few charms will fix it. Anyway we don't want her to be a complete knockout or Snivellus'll never fall for it. Who's drinking it?"

"Don't know. Not me!"

"Course not, James wouldn't let you,"

"I'm guessing that you wouldn't let Belle either,"

"She is not going anywhere near that creep. Anyway it would be too obvious if it was you or Belle,"

"So it's either Ellis, Ciara or Mia. I'll go and find them," Lily sighed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"No,"

"Please Ciara?"

"No. You know what I think of this plan,"

"Please?" Lily begged.

"No,"

"Why not?" Lily demanded.

"Because I just think that it's spiteful and that he doesn't deserve it,"

"DOESN'T DESERVE IT? Ciara, he almost killed James!"

"I'm sure he didn't mean to,"

"Doesn't change that he did. Anyway Remus is helping us,"

"Just because he doesn't have the guts to stand up to his friends,"

"At least he helps his friends," Lily shot back.

"How would you feel if James suddenly disappeared, after all you've been through together? If one day he'd just vanished? That's what you're doing to Snape," Ciara reasoned.

"Well, thanks to your precious Snape, I almost found out," Lily replied coolly as she turned to walk off.

"Where are you going now?" Ciara called out after her.

"To see Sirius,"

"You know you and Sirius would make a good pair?" she asked.

"Meaning?" Lily scowled back.

"That you're just as heartless as each other,"

"Heartless? I'm so sorry that I don't have any pity for the scumbag who tried to kill my boyfriend! Sirius is not heartless for trying to stand up for his friend," Lily countered furiously.

"Really? What is he then?" Ciara asked raising an eyebrow.

"Loyal," Lily glared

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"No!"

"Please Ellis?"

"No. I learned my lesson about dating Slytherins a long time ago," she smiled, causing Lily to smile with her. "Besides I have most of my classes with Snape. He's bound to notice if I disappeared and another girl turned up at the same time. He's not that stupid,"

"Fair enough," Lily shrugged, and told Ellis about the conversation she had just had with Ciara.

"Wow! That was harsh! At least you gave as good as you got,"

"Thanks," said Lily, "I was hoping you'd say that,"

"Why don't you go ask Mia," Ellis suggested.

"Go ask Mia what?" Mia asked having just entered the girls' room.

"Go ask Mia if you want to drink the potion and flirt with Snape," Lily told her.

"You could have put that better!" Elle said laughing.

"Do you?"

"NO! There's no way that you could possibly make me do that!" Mia said flopping down onto her bed. But Lily had an idea.

"Oh I think there is!"

"Go on then......" Mia said grimly intrigued.

"Just imagine the bollocking you'd get if people found out where you actually were this Easter," Lily said recalling the conversation they had on their way back to school.

"That's blackmail!" said Mia looking shocked.

"I know,"

"You said you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"Oh, I'm not going to tell anyone. Because you're going to drink Sirius's potion and go and charm Snape," she said smiling pleasantly.

"Since when did you turn into such a bitch?" Ellis asked approvingly. "First yelling at Ciara, ("She yelled at me first!") then blackmailing Mia,"

"Can't you go back to old nice Lily?" Mia asked glowering.

"I will when this bloody potions out the way," Lily promised.

"I'll hold you to that."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Relax, you'll be fine! Compared to your track record, Snape's got to be easy," Lily told Mia a few days after. "Getting a bloke as rich as Ollie O'Neill has got to be a challenge,"

"You should know, you're the girl sleeping with James Potter," Mia grinned. Lily blushed and turned her attention back to the potion.

"Lily's right, Snape'll fall for you easy," Ellis reassured her.

"Thanks but it's not having to talk to Snape that I'm worried about, it's the thought of having to drink a potion made by Sirius,"

"HEY!" scowling at Mia, Sirius handed her a glass as Lily added a few hairs from the brush. It bubbled and turned a murky brown colour, Mia gulped.

"Cheers!" she said as she started to drink it. Lily, Sirius and Ellis watched, all holding their breath. Mia groaned, doubled over and dropped the glass, which splintered loudly on the floor. Her insides felt alive like they were moving and wriggling inside her. Covering her mouth with her hand she pushed past everyone and ran into the boys' bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"What the hell was that?" James and Isabelle appeared in the doorway.

"Mia's drinking the potion," Lily explained.

"Oh, is she all right?"

"I'm fine," Mia answered half a second later.

("How does she do that?" Lily whispered to Ellis, "She always comes in exactly at the right time,")

The whole room seemed to sigh with relief. Sirius rapidly returned to his usual colour and Lily released James's hand, without realising that she had been holding it. He glanced down at the nail marks she had left behind but didn't comment.

"Bloody hell Mia!" James and Sirius exclaimed. She could not have looked more different. Usually small and dark haired, she was now much taller with long blondish hair.

"There's only one problem," she pointed out, gesturing to her feet. The robes that had fit her perfectly as herself were several inches too short.

"You can borrow some of mine," Ellis volunteered, and started to walk out with Mia.

"Couple of things though" Mia called out. "What's my name?"

"Huh?"

"Well I can't exactly go up to him and say 'Hi, I'm Mia Morgan' can I? And I can't say Petunia Evans either, so what's my name?"

"Make it like Mia, so she'll remember it,"

"Tia? Ria? Neria? Maria?"

"I like Neria," Mia said, "Neria........Turner,"

"That's kinda weird,"

"Exactly. He's bound to remember it. Anyway, the next thing is, what happens if he notices that I've disappeared?"

This stumped the Gryffindors for a while.

"Erm..........."

"Ah...well............"

"KARA!" Ellis cried out.

"Who?"

"Kara's still going to be walking around school, they look practically the same. We'll just have to hope that no one looks to closely, that's all,"

"Well, good luck, Neria Turner," Lily said.

"The effects only last an hour, so remember to keep drinking it," Sirius reminded her.

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She only let him get glimpses of her at first. Just simple things like a look as they passed in the corridor. Then Mia decided to speed things up, by ramming into him as she turned a corner.

"For gods sake, watch where you're going!" she scowled. "Are you going to pick them up?" she demanded, watching him struggle to get up and looking at her books that were now covering the floor.

"She's lost it!" James whispered to Lily as they watched from a few feet away, but Lily had seen Mia do the same thing hundreds of times before. First she would be a bitch to the guy then go and apologize by being very sweet and nice afterwards.

"Just watch," Lily told him.

Snape was in a rush to get back to the Common Room, the last thing he needed was to be hexed by some Gryffindor, so he kept his eyes down, picked up the books and hurried off as soon as he could. Mia shot a look at Lily and raised an eyebrow.

This could be fun.

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Thank you for reading! Please review it, tell me what you think of it! Is getting to 130 reviews a lot to ask for? I guess it just depends on how much you want the next chapter. Now you know what the plan is, happy? Sorry this chapter took so long, but it was about 18 pages long by the time i finsihed it, so i had to change stuff and move it around a bit. next chapter should be out soon, once ive finished playing around with it.

Thank you to: Emerald Eyed Cutie-gianormus dandyness? I think i like it!

Ithilmirith-He's not the minister. Fear not! It will be explained later.

light soceress- Thank you. If you want.

RVG- Wow! So flattering!

L.m Robertson-The suspense is over, you can breathe again!

Rose-Mariann-Johnston-He is very fit. I love him!

Graceful Lily- Thanks for your review, i love your name.

ourlittlesecret7-Thank you!

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	28. Alls Fair In Love And War

Chapter 28 

Snape was sitting in the shade outside watching the rest of the school. Everyone seemed to be sitting outside in groups. Except him. From his hiding place he could see the Gryffindors sitting in a large group, playing with the water at the edge of the lake. Potter and Black were flicking water at the mudblood and her friend who were squealing but still not dodging out the way. One of them was missing, he noticed. The short one. No wait........there she was, just walking up to them with another girl. To his surprise she didn't sit down; just stood and talked for a bit before walking off.

"Hey," said a soft voice behind him. "You don't have to curse me, I just came to apologize that's all," He released his wand slightly, and turned around to see the girl he ran into earlier.

"What do you want?" he snarled.

"To say sorry for yelling at you. I should have been looking where I was going,"

Snape grunted in reply and turned back to his work. Mia rolled her eyes at his back; this was going to be harder than she thought.

"I'm Neria, Neria Turner," she told him, when he didn't reply she tried again. "And you are........."

Snape looked up in surprise. The whole school revelled in making him miserable, how could she not know who he was.

"Severus Snape,"

"Do you mind?" she asked pointing at the scrap of grass beside him. Again, he grunted a reply. Thinking quickly she tried desperately to think how to start a conversation. She needed something they had in common.

"Pathetic, isn't it?" she asked, gesturing to the groups sitting together on the field. "They all follow each other, couldn't think for themselves if their lives depended on it,"

At this Snape looked at her, that was exactly what he had thought. Once he realised that he was not going to be popular, he decided that he didn't want to be like anyone else. He wanted to be able to think for himself and do exactly what he wanted to do. That's why he was alone. Or so he told himself.

"Sometimes it's better just to be by yourself, don't you think?"

"I suppose so,"

"Finally! You don't know how........." she paused for a moment, "Refreshing it is to find someone who isn't exactly the same as every other bloke in the school. I mean, Hogwarts is great if you're looking for the typical eighteen year old; but it's impossible to find someone.........." Seeing that she had his attention, she looked right into his eyes, "Individual, you know?"

Everything in Mia's head was telling her to run. To get away from the one person she hated. The thought that he had tried to kill James kept running through her head.

Everything seemed to stop for Snape as he looked into her clear blue eyes. Finally there was someone like him, why he hadn't met her before he didn't know. Mentally shaking his head, he went back to his work and thought of something else to say.

"Your name's Turner?" he asked, she nodded. "That's a muggle name isn't it?"

Why hadn't she thought of that? Everyone knew Slytherins view of muggles, why couldn't she have picked a name that sounded more magical?

"So's Black," she reasoned, quietly breathing a sigh of relief.

"You know Black?" Snape asked in a slightly strangled voice.

"I know Black," she spat.

"What do you think of him?" he asked cautiously.

'Don't hate me Sirius !' she prayed quickly.

"I think he's an egotistical, arrogant traitor who overestimates his charm and his ability to get whoever and whatever he wants," she scowled, "He's no friend of yours is he?"

'Who is this girl?' he wondered, the whole school knew that Snape had hated Potter and Black form the moment he set eyes on them.

"Don't worry, he's no friend of mine," he sneered.

For the next half hour they discussed Sirius as well as James, Lily and the rest of Gryffindor. Mia gradually growing more and more disgusted with herself. Still if she wanted to win Snape, this seemed to be the only way to do it.

As the clock tower struck one, she got up and started to back to Lily and James's rooms.

"Wait! Apology accepted?" she asked trying her best to look hopeful.

"Sure," he smiled.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Here!" Lily called out. Walking along the school field they were trying to find a place where they could sit and watch the scene between Snape and 'Neria' play out. Walking with James, Isabelle and Sirius followed just behind them, with the rest of the group behind.

"Perfect!" cried James and sat at the edge of the lake. As though she had read his mind, Lily sat down next to him and told him, in no uncertain terms, that he was not going to flick water at her.

"And what if I do?" he teased.

"Oh that's quite simple," she told him seriously, "You'll be sleeping alone for the rest of the year,"

If it was the end of June, he might have thought that it was worth it, but the beginning of May to the beginning of July was a very long time.

He glowered at her and dried his hand on the grass.

Suddenly Lily screamed as water flew over her.

"JAMES!"

He gave her a look of wide-eyed innocence. "Wasn't me,"

"SIRIUS!"

"Sorry Lily! Missed," he pointed to Isabelle who was trying to dry her face on her sleeve. "It's hot outside, you'll soon dry off,"

Seeing Lily's look of surprise, James decided that perhaps it was worth it, after all. Flicking her with water, she squealed and glared at him. He just grinned back. The same smile that had infuriated her this time last year; but now made her knees go wobbly.

Soon all four of them were soaked, but enjoying themselves nevertheless. Lying back in the sun, they chatted with each other until people appeared in front of them.

"Hey Kara, hi Darcy" Lily said, looking up and shielding her eyes from the sun.

"Hi," she replied smiling, "You haven't seen Mia anywhere have you?"

Sirius and James glanced at each other so quickly Kara wondered if she'd imagined it.

"No sorry,"

"Oh, ok. It's just that Mum wanted me to ask her something,"

"When I see her I'll tell her that you're looking for her," Lily promised.

"Thanks. I'll see you later," she said and walked off with her friend.

"Look she's there!" Ellis pointed out. Immediately there were cries of 'Ssh!' and 'shut up!'

"What's the point, they're too far away anyway,"

"Sirius, shut up!"

They listened in vain for a while before giving up; they would get all the details from Mia later.

"It's getting close to one, she's going to need to run," James pointed out, "What are you laughing at?"

"It rhymes," Sirius replied.

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They walked into the Head's rooms to find Mia, looking like Mia, sitting on their sofa and waiting for them.

"Aren't private passwords a wonderful thing?" James asked sarcastically. Lily and James had sworn to Professor McGonagall that they wouldn't tell anyone ("Even Black, Potter!") but they decided that if they 'just happened' to say it in front of their friends and it was memorized, it wasn't technically telling anyone and they weren't breaking their word.

"Don't ever make me do that again, please!" she begged.

"What happened?" Lily asked. "Did it go ok?"

"Yeah, it went fine, but please don't make me do that again!"

"That depends if he's hooked yet, is he?" Sirius demanded.

Mia made a face, "Not yet, give me-"

Sirius pointed at the door, "Then you know what to do,"

"But-"

"Ah! Go on!"

"Just-"

"Mia........."

Mia gave him a look that Lily would have been proud of, and walked out.

"How does it feel to be prostituting one of your best friends?" Ciara asked. She still didn't approve of the plan and was letting everyone know it.

"Hey! I'm not prostituting her. She's too smart to let him touch her," Sirius pointed out, sending her an impatient look. Needless to say Ciara was not too popular at the moment, "She promised to help and she is. I don't see YOU doing that,"

"Just because I don't want to involve myself in this pointless bullying,"

"All's fair in love and war," Sirius replied.

James rolled his eyes and tightened his grip on Lily without realising. These arguments were becoming too common; soon he was going to snap.

"I know you're stressed, but can you not take it out on my hand?" Lily whispered.

"Oh, sorry! I'm going to kill one of them in a minute," he replied.

"-it's spiteful and malicious!" Ciara shouted.

("Make it Ciara," Lily said quietly.)

Sirius opened his mouth to send a scathing comment back, but James got there first. Holding his hand in front of his friend to stop him he snapped.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE! Ciara will you stop your bitching, please! I think that, by now, everyone knows that you don't approve so will you stop moaning?"

His mini-speech got him applause from all the Marauders and the girls, (with one exception) whistles from Ellis and Sirius, and a scowl from Ciara.

"So you're yelling at me just because I-"

"Get out," James spat, when she didn't move he tried again, "Look, if you stay here, you're just going to fight with Sirius, so one of you has to leave,"

"Why does it have to be me?"

"Because I like Sirius, Lily what do you think?" he asked, pretending that he didn't already know her answer.

"Oh defiantly keep Sirius," she agreed, "He's more fun," she added looking directly at Ciara. She still hadn't forgiven her for taking Snape's side in their argument. "Bye,"

"See you Ciara," yelled out Sirius.

"Bye," called out a half-hearted Isabelle. Normally she didn't like seeing her friends fight, but she didn't seem to mind this time.

No one seemed too sad to see her go, her incessant bitching and complaining was getting on everyone's nerves.

"Remus, are you coming?" Already knowing the answer. He wouldn't go against his friends.

"Goodbye Ciara!"

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Ciara eventually forgave Remus, not that the other Gryffindors missed her. It was only when the Hogsmeade trip came up that they started to be civil to her.

Over the next few weeks, Mia began to see more and more of Snape. She knew just how much he liked her and tried not to think of how he would feel when she disappeared. She decided that he was like a bug; she didn't particularly like him, but she didn't want to kill him either, instead just wanting him a long long way away from her.

It was time for the end of the plan, the potion was running out. There was just enough for one or two more hours, just in case things didn't go right. Knowing her luck she would need every last drop.

Snape was nervous, not the usual kind of nervous, waiting for the hex that he knew was coming. This was different. He wanted to ask Neria to Hogsmeade and he had no idea what to say. He decided that the best way was just to come out with it.

"Hi Severus," she said as she sat down beside him. They had taken to sitting down outside, that way it was less likely that someone would notice that Neria wasn't a student.

"Hi Neria," he took a deep breath, "doyouwannagotohogsmeandewithmeonsaturday?"

"What?" she asked looking confused, but had a nasty feeling that she already knew.

"Do you want to go to...erm.....Hogsmeade on.......Saturday?"

She smiled, "Sure,"

"With me?" he repeated, she obviously hadn't understood the question.

"Yeah, I got that. Sure I'll go,"

They sat in silence for a bit, both lost in their own thoughts.

"I have to go," she said, looking at her watch.

"Oh, ok. I'll see you Saturday?" he asked smiling at her.

"You know you will," she replied grinning back. Kissing his cheek quickly she turned and walked quickly away.

Biting her lip, she promised herself that she was not going to feel sorry for him. But she couldn't help it. He was so nervous about asking her, and seemed so happy that she'd accepted she couldn't bear to think that he would be standing alone on Saturday waiting for a girl who didn't exist.

'He deserves it, he deserves it, he deserves it,' she told herself over and over, but she couldn't believe herself. The truth was she didn't know anyone who deserved it.

Stubbornly, she wiped her face with the back of her hand and carried on walking. She had made up her mind; if she thought about it too much she'd change it.

Storming through the Common Room, Mia ignored the trail of seventh years behind her and went up to the boys dormitory,

"Mia, what are you doing? Oh no! Don't do it........don't do it," Sirius warned. She stared at him then dropped the last glass of Polyjuice Potion onto the floor. The glass split into thousands of tiny pieces and the potion went everywhere.

"You do realise that that was the last glass, now we're going to have to make some more," he said angrily.

"I'm not doing it anymore," Mia replied in a hollow voice.

"What?"

"Neria Turner is dead,"

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I'm sorry to everyone who thinks that its too cruel, but i was feeling mean and its too late to go back on it now!

Thanks to: cliverblood, RVG, Emerald Eyed Cutie, Rose-Mariann-Johnston, gldnsunsprite21 BurningIce22, Graceful Lily, L.M. Robertson for their reviews!


	29. A Vivid Imagination

Chapter 29 

The Hogsmeade came up much sooner than Mia would've liked. She tried to say that she had work to do and that she wasn't feeling too good; but as the others pointed out it was their last Hogsmeade visit and she couldn't miss it. Even Ciara had been forgiven for the weekend.

In truth all her excuses were because she didn't want to walk past Snape and watch him waiting for Neria.

'Maybe it won't be that bad, you might not even see him,' she thought to herself. "It'll be fine, just relax,

'I wish.'

In truth, it was every bit as bad as she had expected.

There he was, standing in the Entrance Hall waiting for someone who wasn't real. She hoped that they could just walked past, but with James and Sirius, it wasn't likely.

"You waiting for someone, Snivellus?" James asked as they passed.

"Who says I am?" he sneered.

"The way you're standing alone, not that that's unusual," he added.

"Just piss off Potter!"

"I hear," Sirius said in an audible whisper, "That he has fallen for our Miss Turner,"

Snape paled. OUR Miss Turner?

"What makes her yours?" he scowled.

James and Sirius smirked at each other. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"We go back," he said shortly.

Snape snorted, "That would explain her opinion of you,"

"Really?" asked Sirius intrigued. "What did she say?"

Snape thought for a moment, he didn't want to give Sirius the satisfaction of knowing, but he thought so much of himself it would be nice to bring him down a bit.

"As I recall her exact words were an 'arrogant traitor who overestimates his charm and his ability to get whoever and whatever he wants',"

"Really?" Sirius asked, "She said that?" glancing back at his friends, though Snape couldn't see it, Mia knew it was meant for her.

"She looked pretty cosy last night," James said turning to his friend.

"I didn't hear her complaining," Sirius said, eyebrows raised. "Did you?"

"Of everything we heard last night, complaining wasn't one of them," James smirked.

By this time Snape was fuming; he was so furious that he didn't notice Sirius'd had his arm around Isabelle for their entire conversation.

"Looks like I was right, he's going out with Neria," James said.

"What's it to you?"

"Oh nothing. But you might want to get comfy,"

"You'll be waiting a while," Sirius said in the loud whisper he had perfected over the years of Snape-baiting.

Lily recognised her cue to hurry the boys out, if they didn't leave now they'd be stuck in here for another round.

"Leave him alone, lets just go,"

They left, grumbling and moaning, but they followed Lily out- leaving Snape alone.

He waited for Neria for almost an hour. She obviously wasn't coming. Potter and Black had known, they were probably laughing about it at that moment.

Maybe she had forgotten, he hadn't seen her for a while, that could be it. The girl he had got to know over the past few weeks wouldn't leave him standing there like a fool, if she didn't want to go she would have told him.

He could ask someone if they'd seen her or he could go to her common room.

To his relief he finally found some seventh years that hadn't gone to Hogsmeade.

"Have you seen Turner anywhere?" he asked the boy.

"Who?" he asked.

"Turner," he repeated, "Neria Turner,"

The boy shook his head and shrugged, "Sorry, don't know her,"

"Are you sure she's in seventh year?" the girl asked frowning, "I haven't heard of her before,"

Ok......... so it was on to plan B: Go to her Common Room.

Only he didn't know where it was, he didn't even know what house she was in. so maybe it was going to be a bit harder than he thought.

No one he asked had seen her, she was probably in Hogsmeade, he'd talk to her when she came back.

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"Did you see his face?" Sirius roared. The Gryffindors were sitting in the Three Broomsticks laughing about the incident in the Entrance Hall.

"He's probably going to spend all day looking for her now," James chuckled.

"Could be interesting, seeing as he doesn't know anything about her," Mia replied. Other than a few short comments she had been keeping very quiet. Her usual good mood was gradually returning but it was taking a while.

"What does he know?"

"Nothing, nothing about friends, family, or what house she's in. The only person he knows she knows is Lily," she nodded towards her friend.

"When Snivellus comes to find you, don't tell him anything," Sirius said to her.

"Course not, I'm not that stupid!" she glared. "What makes you think he's going to come to me?"

"Because, according to our lovely friend her," Mia rolled her eyes, "Snape is well and truly hooked. If he believes that she wouldn't lie to him, the way most naïve and trusting people do, he is going to think that something has happened to her and he is going to want to know what. So he'll come after you to ask if you've seen her," Sirius finished.

"What do you know? It has brains," Ellis smirked sipping her drink.

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Being their last ever Hogsmeade visit the Marauders were determined to make the most of it.

"I don't see the point, Hogsmeade is always going to be here after we leave, we can always come back," Lily shrugged.

"Just let them have their fun," Isabelle told her, "Don't try to understand them just love them. It's less confusing that way,"

If James were listening he would have remembered that Sirius told him exactly the same thing at the beginning of the year. But he was too busy chasing Remus through the high street to listen.

"Do we have to sit here?" Lily called out. The Marauders had sat down right opposite the Shrieking Shack.

"Yeah, why what's wrong with it?"

"It's spooky,"

"Not it's not," James snorted.

"Yes it is!" Lily argued, "It's all like...haunted and stuff,"

"No it isn't," Remus said.

"IT IS!" Lily insisted, "Things scream in here. Why do you think it's called the Shrieking Shack?"

"Because the villagers have very vivid imaginations," Sirius replied.

Seeing Lily was still not convinced, James spoke, "If something starts to scream, I promise that we'll go back to Hogwarts and never come back here,"

"Still creepy though," Lily muttered. She followed her friends and sat down, managing to avoid the shadow the house was casting.

"We have to come back here," Ellis said, "When we leave, every year we should comeback,"

"Like a reunion?"

"But we're still going to see each other aren't we?" Lily asked.

"Of course we will,"

"You think we've lived together for seven years just to lose touch?" Sirius asked.

"How the hell did we manage that?" James wondered, thinking of everything they had put up with from each other.

"God knows," Remus replied thinking the same.

"It's going to be weird isn't it?" Isabelle asked, "Not seeing each other every day,"

"Yeah," James and Sirius agreed looking thoughtful.

"What are you going to do?" she asked. They had had this conversation during their fifth year but it hadn't seemed serious then. The end of Hogwarts seemed so far away.

"Don't know, just muck around I suppose," Sirius said.

"My dad has a nice dead-end office job lined up for me," James told them, scowling "What about you Lil?"

"Probably the same, you still want to work at St Mungo's Belle?"

"You're so lucky, knowing what you want to do," Mia said, "I still have no idea,"

"Keep dating Oliver and you won't have to work at all," Lily smirked.

"Lucky bitch," Ellis muttered.

"What about you Remus?" Isabelle asked.

He shrugged, knowing that no one in their right mind would want to hire a werewolf.

"I...er.... don't know. Being a teacher would be good," he said quietly.

"You want to spend more time at school?" Sirius asked, "Are you insa-"James hit him to shut him up. Remus deserved to have something.

"That's great, what do you want to teach?" he asked, Remus shrugged, indicating that the conversation was over.

"We should be getting back," Lily said looking at her watch. None of them really wanted to go back so it seemed to take forever to walk back through the village. They were just about to leave when Sirius and James turned around and started shouting.

"You're saying goodbye to Hogsmeade?" Lily asked in disbelief.

"It's our last ever trip," James replied as though that explained everything.

"It's still going to be here when we leave, we can always come back,"

"We can?" he smirked.

"On one condition......Stop yelling, it's embarrassing,"

"Spoilsport,"

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"You're a pig, you know that?" Lily asked.

"Who?" Sirius asked through a mouthful of pie and potato.

James just about managed a muffled 'Hey!' between shovels of food.

"I can't watch this anymore," Lily said looking disgusted, "I'll see you in the Common Room,"

"I think I'll come with you," replied Remus with the same expression.

The walked out the Great Hall and rounded into their favourite person.

"Well, it's the mudblood and the we-"

"What do you want Snape?" Remus snapped.

"You mean apart from a pleasant conversation with you two freaks?"

"You know you're a lot cockier without James or Sirius here," Lily told him, "Maybe I should get them," she added just to see the look on his face.

"No, wait! All I want to know is where Turner is,"

"Well away from you!"

Unfortunately for Snape, James and Sirius also turned the corner into the Entrance Hall.

"James, Snivellus was just asking me where Neria is,"

"Well away from you," James told him.

"That's what I said," Lily replied smiling.

"You can keep looking," Sirius told him, "But you won't find her,"

"WHERE IS SHE?" Snape shouted.

"Search me," James said and walked off with Lily and Remus.

"Have a nice day," Sirius added and followed his friends.

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"Professor please! You don't understand!"

"I understand perfectly," Professor McGonagall said crisply, "You want to know the whereabouts of a Miss Neria Turner. But I will say it again: There is no Neria Turner at this school, nor has there ever been. I don't know who you are talking about,"

"POTTER AND BLACK! They know something about it. They told me I'd never find her. Talk to them!"

"Will you stop ordering me around? Follow me, we're going to see Professor Dumbledore, no don't complain. Yes I shall be getting Potter and Black,"

"Evans has something to do with it as well,"

"I fail to see what Miss Evans has to do with anything. She was about to continue when they reached Dumbledore's office, "Wait here,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"He really is a prat,"

"What was he saying to you before we got there?" James asked.

"You know, the usual: Insults, threats that kind of thing,"

"What did he call you?"

"He called me a mudblood and was about to call Remus something but he interrupted,"

Remus caught the look James gave him and smiled slightly. But Snape had got his mind working, maybe he should tell Lily what he was. Now she was dating James he had got to know her better and knew he could trust her. She was the smartest witch in the school, she'd probably figured out something was wrong years before. He'd talk to the Marauders first.

"One day I'm going to get Snape and I'm going to......."

"I'd advise you not to finish that sentence Mr Potter,"

James nearly jumped out his skin when he heard Professor McGonagall brisk tone behind him. Lily could have sworn that the teacher smiled slightly.

"Professor Dumbledore wishes to see you, Black and Miss Evans in his study. Now,"

Immediately there were cries of 'I swear it wasn't me', 'It was all his fault' and 'But I haven't done anything........ lately,"

"Just follow me,"

"What have we done?" James whispered as they walked several feet behind McGonagall.

"I wonder!" Lily hissed.

"How can she know?"

"He knows about me, and you two got yourselves into this by making so many stupid, bloody comments. 'You'll never find her'," she mimicked, "Are you insane? He's going to think that you've killed her or something stupid like that,"

In hindsight Sirius had to admit that it was stupid to say things like that, but at the time he just couldn't resist it.

They fell silent as they climbed up to Dumbledore's office.

"Good evening," Dumbledore greeted them as they walked in, "Myself and Professor McGonagall were hoping that you could help 'get to the bottom' of this,"

"Get to the bottom of what?" Lily inquired politely. James started to speak, but Lily sent him a look telling them both to keep quiet and let her talk for them.

"This Neria Turner business,"

"Who?" She asked.

"Don't play all innocent Evans, you know who he's talking about," Snape spat at her.

"As Head Boy and Girl, James and I probably know every student in this school, but I can't say I know Neria Turner. Do you know James?"

"No. What about you Sirius?"

"No."

"What year is this girl supposed to be in?" Lily asked.

"Seventh," Snape answered.

"What did she look like?"

"Tall, blonde," Snape said.

"I think that it's fairly unlikely there's a seventh year blonde girl in the school that Sirius doesn't know," Lily smirked. Dumbledore chuckled.

"Then how do you explain the girl who has disappeared? The girl I've been talking to for the last three weeks?" Snape asked.

For a second they were stumped, but then Lily remembered something Sirius had said to her earlier in the day.

"An vivid imagination?"

"Miss Evans, please try to remain serious," Professor McGonagall said.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what else to say. The only tall blonde girl I know is Ellis Quinn. I think we've all decided that Neria Turner does not attend this school, and I'm sure it would be impossible for anyone outside to get into the school,"

"Can I just interrupt for a second please?" James asked. Dumbledore nodded and watched them over his glasses.

"Snape, did you ever see this girl do magic?"

"Once or twice maybe,"

"Then this girl would have to be a witch, right Professor?"

Dumbledore nodded and seemed to be intrigued.

"Doesn't the Ministry keep tabs on every witch or wizard in the country?"

"Of course," McGonagall said.

"Then can't you just ask them about a girl called Neria Turner?" he asked.

"That could be possible," Professor McGonagall acknowledged. "I'll see to it in the morning. Goodnight to you all. We will see you again tomorrow,"

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"How did it go?" Remus asked. Lily looked furious; Sirius had his usual expression of not being able to care less; James however was looking rather pleased with himself.

"Great!" Lily said, her eyes flashing, "James has taken it to the Ministry!"

"You what?" Remus asked looking alarmed. "What happened?"

"James said, you know how the Ministry keeps tabs on every witch or wizard in the country, can't you just check on a witch called Neria Turner?"

"Why does it matter? We all know how good Ministry tabs are," he said smirking at Sirius, "They won't find anything,"

"What if there is a Neria Turner?" Lily asked, still fuming.

"It won't be the same, so she won't know who he is,"

"Why don't we just tell them the truth?" Lily sighed.

"Because we'd be setting up a dangerous precedent," Sirius said, finally tuning into the conversation.

"You mean if we do the right thing now, we'd have to do the right thing next time?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well think what we'd have to admit to. That you lied to a teacher so you could get out the book; that we stole the ingredients from the cupboard; and that we lied to them tonight," James explained.

"Tomorrows going to be an interesting day," Sirius said.

"We'll see. Night all," Lily said, still glaring at James. Remus watched her go upstairs and changed the conversation.

"Do you think I should tell Lily about the whole wolf thing?" he asked.

"What brought that on?" James asked looking confused.

"Snape. He was about to call me a werewolf when I interrupted. She probably heard anyway so maybe I should just tell her,"

"No!"

"Why not? She is a Marauder," James reasoned.

"If you're going to tell her just because you ("WE!") made her a Marauder you might as well show her the map, your cloak, tell her all the passages. Why not show her how to turn into an Animagus? A tiger perhaps!" Sirius fumed.

"Shut up! If Remus wants to tell her then its up to him. Don't see what you're getting so stressed about,"

"You know, I think Lily had the right idea. Goodnight," Sirius said and walked out.

"Ignore him. If you want to tell Lily then do, if you don't-don't. Simple. She wouldn't tell anyone,"

"I know. You're lucky you know that?"

"You mean you..........." James eyed his friend warily.

"No course not! But compare her to Ciara and you'll get what I mean,"

"She's alright. Just as long as you're not breaking the law," he added thoughtfully. "You're not thinking about telling Ciara though?"

"Are you joking? She'd freak out and run a mile,"

"When's the next moon?"

"Four days," Remus answered looking gloomy again.

"Where do you think we should go?"

"Hogsmeade?"

"Why not?"

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Normally she didn't have a problem, settling down to work. But Lily just couldn't think. Whether it was because she was tired, or because she was preoccupied by the thought of the Ministry; or just because she was distracted by the voices downstairs. By the sound of it Sirius had just left and just James and Remus were left.

Going down the stairs she stopped when she heard her name,

"-tell Lily then do, if you don't-don't. Simple. She wouldn't tell anyone,"

"I know," she heard Remus reply. Why were they talking about her?

"You're not thinking about telling Ciara though?"

Remus made some comment about running a mile that confused Lily even more. What wasn't he telling her and why was James suddenly talking about moons?

Shaking her head she went back up to bed. God knows she'd had enough with trying to understand him. She decided to take Isabelle's advice and went back to bed.

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Thank you for reading and for all your long lovely long reviews. Please review this chapter. Please please please? (That didn't sound too desperate!)

Thank you- cilverblood, Rose-Mariann-Johnston, firewalker32, L.M Robertson, and ourlittlesecret7.

Pandawitch1616-Thank you! 1) Mia stayed with her boyfriend over easter. The reason Lily could blackmail her was because she told the school she was going to her parents and her parents that she was staying at school for Easter. 2) About 3 weeks. 3) She was only Neria when she knew she was going to see Snape so she didn't take the potion to go to lessons etc. Happy? If you've got any more questions ASK THEM!

Leo x


	30. I'll Make It Up

Here is the PROPER CHAPTER! Thank you to everyone who pointed out that it was very mucked up becasue i never would have noticed! Sorry about the rambly bit, its random notes just forget you read it please!

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Chapter 30

Lily woke the next morning to find that everyone had already gone down to breakfast. The Marauders were all sitting together; Evidently Sirius's rant at James had been forgiven if not forgotten. James went to kiss her but she dodged out of the way to sit next to Mia showing that she wasn't prepared to do either.

"Lily, McGonagall coming to get us some time tonight," James said, looking a bit bewildered.

"Remus can you pass me the butter please?" Lily asked. As the butter was directly in front of James, and Remus was sitting two seats down he had to stretch looking just as confused.

"Thank you," she said politely. In fact she spent the rest of the day being very polite and charming to everyone. Except James.

After dinner, James disappeared. She went to dinner with Sirius and Mia, saying goodnight to them at her rooms, expecting them to be empty.

"What are you doing here?"

"So you're talking to me again?" James scowled.

"Has McGonagall come yet?" she asked ignoring the expression on his face.

"No. Went to see her after dinner and it's all taken care of,"

"Really? How?" She asked amazed.

"I thought you weren't talking to me," he said coolly.

"But-"

"You've been working so hard all day it would be a shame to spoil it now,"

"James!"

"Goodnight," he smiled, grabbed his books and headed up to his room.

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He couldn't sleep. Just seeing the expression on her face when he walked off was enough to kill any tiredness. He wanted to go and see her but he wasn't sure about the rules in the Heads rooms. He'd never been in her room. She'd always go to his. Whether the Head Girls dorm had the same rules as the usual girls dormitories, he didn't know. But he wasn't willing to risk it. Calling up the stairs hadn't worked he'd either have to wait until morning or go up there.

He couldn't wait; he wouldn't get a wink of sleep all night if he did.

He couldn't go up there because he'd set off all kinds of sirens and alarms and god-knows-whats.

Unless..........HE couldn't go up there......but maybe...........

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Lily was having the weirdest dream. First she was wandering around Hogwarts, but there was no one else there. Then James appeared, scowling and whispering her name and after a while some kind of animal appeared beside him snuffling and sniffing beside her. As she woke the image of Hogwarts and James gradually faded. But the animal didn't, it was still there staring at her and nudging her hand with its nose.

Even in her sleep-muddled state she recognised it. But then how many stags did she know?

"Prongs? James what do you want?"

He looked at her and trotted down the stairs. Occasionally pausing to check that she was following.

"To say sorry," he said as he changed back.

"For what?"

"For being just as stubborn as you,"

"Oh thanks! Is that what you dragged me up to tell me?"

"Pretty much," he replied feeling slightly foolish. "You still want to know how we got out of it?"

"Of course,"

"Naturally they didn't find anything, so I said that she must have used a fake name and they have no chance of finding her,"

"That's it?!" Lily asked amazed.

"That's it," he said calmly. "Dumbledore knows there something we're not telling him but he's not going to say anything. I think he persuaded McGonagall that it was pointless to look into it anymore,"

"You've got to love that man," she smiled.

"So I messed it up and I fixed it, forgiven?" he asked, making big puppy eyes.

"Hmm..." she said pretending to think. "Okay,"

"I missed you today," he said quietly.

"It was only one day!" Silently she remembered when he had been unconscious for just two days, and she missed him so much she felt like crying.

"Call me romantic,"

"But you are," she smiled. "Now where's my lily?"

"That reminds me," James said as he hugged her, "You still owe me a kiss from this morning,"

"I'll make it up," she promised kissing him.

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"Lily? Lily! LILY!"

"What?" she murmured.

"Can't sleep,"

"So you thought you'd wake me up as well?" she muttered.

"Sorry," James said. He hadn't really thought of that.

"What for?"

"The whole Neria thing,"

Lily sighed. She was properly awake now and sat up to face James. "We've just been through that,"

"No. All of it. We shouldn't have dragged you in to it. You could have got expelled if someone found out, which they were bloody close to doing. The amount of crap the Marauders have done.....well we should have got kicked out years ago. But you and Mia don't deserve that,"

"James, we wanted to help. We all knew what could happen if we got found out. But we didn't so I don't see why it matters. Go back to sleep,"

"But-"

"James please!"

"I mean imagine if-"

"I don't want to imagine anything. I want to go to sleep!" she snarled.

"It was so-"

Rolling her eyes, she pulled him closer to her. She could feel that he started to talk but soon gave up and kissed her back. He never could resist her for long.

She shook her head. "Just........don't say anything,"

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"I take it you two made up last night," Ellis said.

"What makes you say that?" Lily yawned.

"One-the bags under your eyes; two-James's hair was even more ruffled then usual this morning; three-the way you've been grinning inanely all day; and four- the lily tucked into your bag, that you think no one can see,"

"You know you're a bit creepy sometimes," she replied narrowing her eyes.

"Anyway, you're going to need all the fun you can get soon,"

"Why?"

"NEWT week next week,"

"Oh you're joking!" Lily groaned, "That's like three days!"

"Lily Evans forgetting to revise? Never! Its all the teachers have talked about this year,"

"I've had other things on my mind," she protested.

"Haven't we all," Ellis replied, watching a seventh year Ravenclaw as he walked past them. Lily followed her friend's gaze and sighed.

"Like I said, we're going to need all the fun we can get," she reasoned.

"So who is he this time?" Lily asked.

"Josh Pierce, Slytherin,"

"Slytherin?!" She asked in disgust.

"You obviously don't know him," she smirked.

"That good?"

"Oh ........yeah,"

"Slapper," she chuckled.

"Oh Lily," Ellis sighed, her eyes now following a Slytherin, "You have no idea,"

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"Next week could well be the most important week in your magical career," Professor McGonagall started.

An hour later and the group found themselves in charms.

"The rest of your lives could depend on how you perform next week," the teacher started. Lily resisted the temptation to roll her eyes and look to see what James was writing.

a a e s

"You're playing hangman?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes why?"

"You don't think you might need to listen?" she hissed.

"Er......why?" Sirius replied, trying to work out what the word he was supposed to be guessing was. "We've already heard this speech four times today. In about five seconds he's going to say about how it could affect our future careers," They looked up expectantly, waiting to see if his prediction was correct.

"All though they may not seem important, these exams will affect your future career choices," the teacher continued.

"I hate to say he told you so," James smirked while adding a leg onto the little man he was drawing, "Two guesses left Black,"

"R," said Lily.

"Who said you could play?" Sirius asked, sounding just like a child in the playground.

"Fine," she replied coolly, "It's Marauders," she added. "I thought you were supposed to be smart? You can't even get the name of your own little gang?"

"I thought you were supposed to be listening?" Sirius hissed back. Lily scowled in reply and turned back to the professor's speech. "Do something else," he whispered back to James. Looking around, James finally found something he knew Sirius would get.

"A," Sirius guessed. "Ok...........O.......I,"

o a i o

"Montalio. Next!"

"Watch this," James said to Lily and drew nine lines on the scrap of parchment.

Sirius began guessing random letters until he ended up with two guesses left.

P e t t r e

"I can't believe you don't know what this is,"

"Marauders!"

"Does it look like bloody Marauders?" James asked despairing at his best friend.

"Padfoot,"

"Does it look like bloody Padfoot either?"

"What's Padfoot supposed to mean?" Lily asked. Glaring at Sirius, James told her that it was nothing.

"No....it's just....random word....you know," Sirius stuttered. Lily smiled at them both.

"You don't have to tell me, I just wondered that's all. It's Pettigrew by the way,"

Sirius scowled at her.

Hangman defiantly wasn't his favourite game.

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Ellis was beginning to regret telling Lily about the NEWTs. Not content with just revising for herself she was now trying to organise the rest of the group as well.

"Where do you think you're going?"

As James and Sirius were both in their Quidditch robes and carrying their brooms they thought it was quite obvious where they were going.

"Quidditch finished months ago!"

They stared at her.

"So..........?"

"We've got very important exams in three days time, did that not occur to you?" she asked them.

"Yes, Professor!" Sirius said and exchanged a grin with James. "But all work and no play....."

"Bores Jack to death," James finished. "We are going to practise Quidditch,"

"Practise for what?" Mia asked.

"If you must know, me and Sirius were planning on playing in the next world cup," said James trying desperately to keep a straight face.

"So we need to practise. See you later and have fun revising!" Sirius said accompanying it with a sarcastic grin.

Lily looked murderous for a while after they left.........until Remus asked her to test him on chapter 7 of Advanced Transfiguration. She stayed there for hours; she was beginning to think that James had a point with his 'play now work later' thing. She was still there when Ellis crept back around one in the morning.

"Morning,"

Evidently Ellis hadn't noticed she was there; she jumped a foot in the air and let out a small shriek.

"Jesus Evans! You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!"

"How's Josh?"

"What makes you think that?"

"One-Your hair's all ruffled; two-your shirts inside out; three-I know you too well; and four-you look absolutely knackered,"

"Don't be such a smart arse," Elle snapped.

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The rest of the weekend passed in a blur of books, tests and quills. James had even given in and picked up a book, though it was more to prevent another argument then to actually work. Remus noticed with a grin that James's eyes didn't move when he said he was reading and that the parchment he was supposed to be making notes on was covered in doodles of snitches, Ls, Js and stick animals.

Even Sirius had been spotted with a book. When the rumour got round that Sirius Black was studying the library became filled with what seemed like every girl in fourth year and above, hoping to bump into him. Lily didn't have the heart to tell them that Sirius didn't have a clue where the library was and that he hadn't been reading, just flicking through Advanced Divination. A class he'd never taken. Nevertheless he'd amused himself for a while, by stealing some scarves from the girls' dormitories and pretending to be a fortuneteller.

Isabelle was destined to meet a tall and very handsome man ("Is his name Sirius by any chance?") whereas Lily would 'be stuck with a skinny little runt with a big nose and glasses'.

"Poor James!" Lily said, sitting on his lap and putting her arms around him. "Anyway his nose isn't that big," she said to Sirius.

"Oh thanks!" said James looking sour. He tried to stand up and push her off.

"Come on I was joking! You're not exactly little anymore, you're taller than me,"

"That just because you're short arse," he said.

"And you're nose isn't big at all," Lily said trying to repair the damage she had done. "In fact Sirius is completely wrong. You're tall and strapping with a small nose and very..........unruntish,"

"Well...you tried I suppose," he shrugged.

"I'll make it up,"

"Really?" he smirked remembering the last time she'd said that.

"Ugh, that's revolting!" Ellis remarked. "While those are busy getting off in the corner, tell me my fortune,"

Sirius informed her that she would live happily ever after with a man who was quite small and round and who looked remarkably like Peter, earning him a smack around the head.

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The next day dawned bright and early and James, Lily, Isabelle and Sirius had the joy of a potions exam to look forward to.

"Good luck," James murmured.

"Potter, Evans! No hormones in the corridors, ten points from Gryffindor," the potions teacher snapped as he strode past.

"But Professor-"

"Another five points. Feel free to continue to argue Potter,"

James made a face, and they managed a quick kiss while the teacher's back was turned.

The Hall was laid out exactly as it had been for their OWLs only with fewer seats, as there were far fewer students that had taken each subject than before.

The four of them were separated and placed at random seats. Lily found herself a few seats behind James, while Isabelle and Sirius were placed at different ends of the hall.

"You have one hour," the examiner told them, "And you may begin,"

The exam was reasonably challenging but not impossible and they worked steadily through it- that is until Lily got to question 14. By the looks of it James reached the question at the same time, she could see his shoulders shaking as he tried not to laugh. Smiling slightly she began to write.

14) Name the ingredients and describe the effects of the Polyjuice Potion.

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I forgot to say that there won't be another chap for a while because im going away for a bit, so i want reviews when i get back!

Leo x


	31. Newts and Wolves

Chapter 31 

"It's just an exam, there's nothing to worry about, it's just an exam," Ciara repeated over and over to herself as she waited to be called into the Hall. "There's nothing to worry about, it's just-"

"For gods sake, will you shut up?" Lily asked irritably. Had it been anyone else, she would have tried to make them feel better, but she had very little patience for the girl who had once been her friend.

"You'd be nervous too, if you had an exam in about two minutes time," Ciara said.

"I do, why the bloody hell do you think I'm sitting here waiting with you? But do you see me talking to myself? NO!"

"Don't tell me you're not stressed, who was the girl who was trying to organise everyone's revision? And who was panicking because people had better things to do than read?"

"Are you still talking to me, or are you back to talking to yourself?" Lily asked in the tone of voice she seemed to have picked up from Sirius.

Ciara was about to reply when Professor Flitwick called for Donnelly, Ciara; Edwards, Claire; Evans, Lily. So they settled for venomous glares the entire way through the exam. Lily smirked when Ciara stuttered a spell, causing it to shoot orange spinning fireworks at the examiner. Naturally he ducked, and they shot past him only to explode when they hit the wall of the Hall leaving scorch marks all over it. Biting back a laugh, Lily tried to concentrate on turning the animal in front of her into a light bulb. Hoping that the examiner wouldn't notice that it still had a slight pattern, she smiled politely and left. Isabelle, Kara and Mia were waiting outside, she grinned at them and mouthed some encouragement as she passed them.

"So how was it?" Sirius asked as Lily, followed by Ciara walked into the Common Room. Sirius had finished his exam a few hours before the rest and was the only seventh year there.

"Fine. Just as long a you managed to say the right word,"

"Huh?" Sirius looked to Ciara for some explanation.

"I mucked up a spell and almost......killed the examiner," she trailed off.

"Really? How?" he looked up in interest.

"Don't tell him, you'll only give him ideas,"

"Shut up Evans. What did you do?" Sirius asked again.

"Sent fireworks at him," she replied quietly.

"Huh?"

"Sent fireworks at him," she repeated biting her lip.

"Well don't look so embarrassed, it's brilliant. Better than anything I could think of. How did you do it?"

"Don't know, just said the spell slightly wrong I guess,"

"Try again. Play around and see what happens,"

"Your personal motto?" Lily asked raising an amused eyebrow.

"Like just experiment? Just say different words and see what happens?" Ciara asked.

"Yeah and let me know if you find anything decent," Sirius called out as Ciara walked up to the girl's dormitories.

"Do you ever," Lily asked, "Ever think before you speak?"

"Meaning?"

"You've just told her to go around and play with spells that could well be dangerous. She could end up killing herself,"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't," Lily replied shifting uncomfortably, Sirius raised an eyebrow, "But as Head Girl it's my responsibility to ensure that students aren't doing anything dangerous,"

"Funny how this never bothered you before,"

Lily glared at him.

"You know, you are allowed to still like her," he added in a softer voice. "You used to be good mates, don't you ever want to go back to that?"

"No."

"Why don't you just make it up?"

"If she apologizes, but she won't because she's too stubborn,"

"Look who's talking!"

"Why should I say anything to her? It's her fault,"

Sirius rolled his eyes and grunted something that sounded oddly like 'Women!"

Fortunately she was saved answering by the arrival of Mia, Isabelle, Remus and James. Peter was still in the exam, despite having been called before James.

"How'd it go?"

"Not bad," James shrugged. "Should get an Outstanding at least,"

"What?" he asked, looking at Lily's glare, "It's true,"

"Ignore her, she's been grouchy all afternoon," Sirius reached over and pulled her over to him. Indignant as she was about being crushed between his arm and his shoulder, Lily couldn't help grinning. Sirius's good moods were notoriously catching, and the scathing comment that had been on the tip of her tongue suddenly disappeared.

"Something I should know about?" James asked smirking slightly at the different expressions on his friends' faces.

"Yes there is," she told him smirking, "I'm secretly and madly in love with Sirius. We're going to live together after Hogwarts," Sirius winked at her as an uncomfortable silence descended on the room, no one really liked to think about 'after Hogwarts'. The Big Bad World was getting Bigger and Badder by the day; by staying at Hogwarts they could remain comfortably oblivious to the world outside.

James decided that he was bored of this game and so he changed the subject.

"What have you got tomorrow?"

"Charms," Lily answered.

"Going to show us all up?" James asked mock seriousness, knowing that Charms was easily Lily's best subject.

"Oh yes. Should get an Outstanding at least," she smiled. James blushed and followed everyone down to dinner.

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"One day done, four to go. Bring on the weekend," Sirius said stretching and settling himself on the sofa.

"I give up! I can't do it, my head is full!" Lily said slamming down the book she was reading.

"See what I mean? Exams are too stressful," he muttered leaning back and closing his eyes. Ellis snorted; she doubted that Sirius had ever been stressed in his life.

"We're having a party this weekend by the way,"

"I trust we can rely on the Marauder for supplies?" Lily asked.

"Of course,"

"And talking of Marauders you don't know where Remus is do you?"

James and Sirius exchanged a swift look.

Yes he's in the Shrieking Shack.

"I think he's in the library, why?"

"I wanted to talk to him,"

You may have to wait until he's human.

"What about?"

"Nothing really, he's was going to find a book for me that's all,"

"Advanced Transfiguration?" James asked, "It's on his bed,"

Sirius looked up like a startled animal.

"Where're you going?" he asked Lily as she got up.

"To get the book?"

"You can't go up there! It's......private," he finished lamely.

"What's the problem, you never bothered about it before," she replied frowning and looking confused. James was now watching, interested.

"Why can't I go up there?"

"Because,"

"That's not a reason!"

"Do I have to have a reason?"

"Yes!"

"For Gods sake I'll get the bloody book!" James exclaimed and stalked upstairs to get it. As he entered the boy's dormitory he noticed that on Sirius's bed was his invisibility cloak, the Marauders Map and a few hasty scribbles on tonight's adventure. No wonder he didn't want Lily up there, she was bound to ask questions.

"Stupid prat!" he chuckled. He shoved the items under the bed and picked up what he was looking for.

"Thank you James!" Lily beamed at him, and ignoring Sirius she curled up like a cat and started to read.

James's mind was working; he needed to talk to Sirius without anyone noticing. Calling him was too obvious he needed something subtler.

Sirius flinched as something bounced off his arm. Looking down he couldn't see anything; maybe he'd just imagined it. Still he could have sworn........

When the ball of parchment flew into his eye he knew that he wasn't imaging anything. And he had a watering eye and a smirking James to prove it.

"What?"

James's eyes flickered down, to the scrunched up parchment in Sirius's lap, and then back up again. The glance was so fleeting that anyone would have missed it, but they knew each other so well they could practically read each other's minds.

"I'm starving, anyone else want to come to the kitchens?" James asked. The girls in the Common Room gave him a disgusted look.

"You've only just had dinner!"

"That was hours ago! Anyway I'm a growing boy," James replied as an explanation. Sirius who was now standing, half a head higher, next to his friend, snorted.

"You wish,"

James ignored him.

"Pete you coming?"

Peter, who had finally managed to get the good armchair now James had stood up, weighed up his options. Deciding that the chair was worth more, he shook his head.

"Peter......" Sirius said in a low growl and raised an eyebrow. Peter's eyes widened as he recognised the look and he hurried up to stand next to the other two.

"Bye!" James called out cheerfully.

"What was all that about?" Peter asked once they were out of earshot.

"What?"

"Did it never occur to you to put the stuff away?" James asked.

Sirius looked around at everywhere but James.

"How you ever got known as the smart one I'll never know," James chuckled

"You're mixing your Marauders there. It's Remus that's the smart one,"

"So what are you?"

"The best looking........."

As much as James hated to admit it, it was true. Whether it was his height, the long black hair that fell into his eyes, or the air of arrogance he had, Sirius had a kind of elegance James would never achieve. At half a head shorter, with his short messy hair and glasses, James made quite a different impression.

"The most rebellious........" Sirius continued extol his merits, now sounding almost poetic.....well as poetic as Sirius ever got. James snorted.

"And the most dangerous of the four marauders....." he finished looking quite proud of himself.

This, none of them could dispute. Remus had never joined in when the James or Sirius decided to hex or curse another student; Peter probably couldn't if he tried; and this was probably the only point on which James and Sirius differed. James......well he'd muck around, but he'd never do anything too serious.....too dangerous. Sirius on the other hand, if he was angry enough, wouldn't stop at anything. Especially not if it involved one of his friends.

"What about me?" James asked.

"The one that can play Quidditch,"

"That's it? How come you get three good things and I only get one?"

"What am I?" Peter asked.

"The short one," Sirius answered quickly and turned his attention back to his conversation with James. "You only get one because...........that's the only thing left," he answered honestly.

"You know, as Head Boy," James started an evil smile starting to creep onto his face, "It is my duty to tell the teachers if there are students roaming the halls at," he checked his watch, "10.30. Especially if they are trying to steal food from the kitchen," he finished, a look of pure innocence on his face.

"That's blackmail!"

"Your point being........"

"All right, all right, you are......Head Boy," at James expression, he tried to think of something else, "And dating the Head Girl...who is very nice?"

"Keep going,"

"And pretty?"

"Go on......."

"If I say anymore Isabelle will kick my arse!"

"How are things with her?"

"I'm not saying anything. I don't want to jinx it,"

"Come on! You're not going to jinx anything,"

"Alright, but if something goes wrong I'm blaming you!"

"And will kick my arse yes I know," James said impatiently, "So tell me..."

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"I wish Sirius was that well trained," Isabelle commented to Lily once the boys had left the room.

"Well-trained? Belle, you can't train him, he's not a dog,"

"Well whatever you call James, I wish Sirius was like it,"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Running all over Hogwarts for you?"

"He went upstairs to get a book. Because SOMEBODY'S boyfriend wouldn't let me. Any idea what's up Sirius's arse today?"

"God only knows," Isabelle sighed. "And maybe James as well," she added thoughtfully. "Maybe he's stressed about the exams," she realised just how unlikely that sounded just after she said it.

"So how's it going with you two?"

"I'm not saying a word,"

"Why not?"

"Because I'll jinx it,"

Lily snorted. "Please tell me you don't believe in jinxes. What harm can it do?"

"FAMOUS LAST WORDS!"

"Come on! If something goes wrong, you can blame me 100 for making the 'curse fall upon you,'" she said in an exaggerated accent.

"100?" Isabelle asked still looking slightly uneasy. Lily nodded.

"Well.........."

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Lily couldn't sleep. James said he had a stomach ache and had gone to bed a few hours ago, refusing to go and see Madame Pomfrey. Peter had followed not long after, but Sirius stayed up, entertaining the Common Room until he too said he needed to sleep. ("Exams tomorrow!" he said in a voice that, in Lily's opinion, was too chirpy to be allowed)

The air outside was warm but there was a breeze making much cooler than it should have been. Lily had thrown the window open and was balancing on the windowsill, swinging her legs 50 feet above the ground. From her room she could see most of the grounds, over the lake to the Quidditch pitch and then into the shadows of the Forbidden Forest. She had been in there once with Ellis, years ago, and vowed never to go back.

'God knows what lives in there' she thought, and as though to prove her point, a howl sounded out across the grounds. Shivering slightly, she moved to close the window and climb back inside when something moving at the edge of the forest caught her eye. It moved like a dog, but was somehow different. It howled again, louder this time, and Lily had to grab the window frame to stop her from plummeting to the ground in shock.

A werewolf.

So that meant someone at Hogwarts..........now that was interesting..........that was very interesting.

Closing the window and climbing into bed, she didn't see the dog and the stag with a rat balancing on his back that burst out of the trees after the wolf.

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Well.....I'm back! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all the reviews! I know to people who get thousands of reviews 13 isn't many, but is it to me so THANK YOU! That really cheered me up when i got back. Sorry the first chapter got mucked up but thanks to everyone who told me. Would it be really piggy to asked for 14 reviews this time? Well I am anyway!

BurningIce22- I was getting kinda bored with the whole Neria thing, sorry if it seemed a bit rushed-its because it was.

Cilverblood-I didn't know the first time someone asked me that and i still dont! Thanks for the review, I probably will continue this after Hogwarts. I think JKR said somewhere that if Sirius got married she would have been Harry's godmother, but he didn't so he doesn't have one.Hmm........ I'll have to put that into my story somewhere.............

Dancincheerchik-Thanks for the review. I'm try to update as fast as i can!!!!

Nomi-clawskull- You're so lucky! I would LOVE to go anywhere in the US. You caught me! There are quotes in there sometimes. The one in this chapter from Sirius about being the best looking etc, was from JKR and I've been looking for an exucse to use it since I heard it. No I don't think Lily is like Hermione, I think she used to be a bit like her, until she fell in with the Marauders. Thanks for reviewing once, let alone twice!

Sirius' lover xx T xx-Thanks for the review!

L.M.Robertson- I did try to have fun, I really did but it was crap and miserable. Anyway............... Thanks for reviewing this chapter and the last ones as well!

Dovasery-Thank you! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Cyclone Ami-Thanks! I don't know how many more chapters I am going to write. There's only one or two more until they finish Hogwarts and then there will be more if I continue after that. There's only three of them in that class because that's how I wrote it much earlier in the story and realised that I couldn't really change things 15 chapters later. No I havn't written anything else but I'm starting a couple more stories to put on here later, so you can read them then.

Ashton Rushing-Great to know you loved the chapter, your review really made me smile! The Hangman game took me ages to put little dashes in where the letters were missing and IT DIDN'T EVEN SHOW THEM!

WhiteLiliesWithAScar-Wow! Six hours! Glad you liked it that much!

LooneyLuna1122-Thanks for your review, I really am trying!

Midgee Dumbledore-Updated! Thank you for the review!


	32. About Time Too

Chapter 32 

"Good luck,"

"Don't say that! It's bad luck. Say 'break a leg',"

"That's before you act,"

"Well," Lily started, "I have to go in there and pretend to a room full of examiners that I know something about Animals. I call that acting,'

James was about to argue, but thought the better of it. He had done his best to help her the night before, before disappearing off to Hogsmeade, but evidently it had not been enough.

"Fine then, break a leg," he smiled and kissed her quickly before she was called in. He tried to hide a yawn, so much that he looked like he was scowling and flaring his nostrils at the same time. He wandered back up to the Common Room, frightening a couple of second years on his way.

He found Remus, Isabelle, Ellis, Peter, Mia and, to his surprise, Sirius in the Common Room when he got there.

"You're back quickly,"

Sirius smirked at him. "I'm that good,"

"And that modest," Ellis added quietly.

"What was that?"

She replied but fortunately Sirius only heard part of her answer over some fifth year girls who had suddenly erupted in giggles. What he did catch, however, he didn't like.

"This is ridiculous," Elle decided as again very loud giggling interrupted their conversation. "Oy! You lot!" she called out to them, "For Gods sake will you shut up?"

The girls paid no attention, other than sending a dirty look at her.

"No people skills whatsoever," Sirius muttered shaking his head. He got up and went over to them. His greeting of 'hey girls' was enough to make them eat out of his hand. "Look, I'm sorry for my friend there, but do you think you could possibly keep it down slightly? It's just that we've got exams in about ten minutes time. So do you think that you could do that? Come on...........for me..........please,"

The girls looked at each other.

"Sure Sirius,"

"Yeah, sorry for disturbing you and everything,"

"We could sit outside, then we wouldn't be disturbing anyone,"

"Really? Cheers girls," he said and flashed them a stunning smile. By this time, they were practically swooning.

"See? No problem." He said sitting back down next to James.

"That wasn't people skills that was manipulation!" Ellis argued, "All you had to do was smile at them and they would have jumped out the tower if you'd asked them to,"

"All I did was ask them to move. Why they moved is up to them and nothing to do with me," Sirius reasoned.

"Don't you ever get sick of him?" Ellis asked Isabelle, who shook her head. Isabelle, still not convinced that she hadn't jinxed something, was being very careful what she said.

"I- "

But nobody heard what Belle really thought of Sirius, as Lily slammed opened the portrait and stormed inside. When asked how her exam went, she made an odd sort of grunt and scowled at everyone.

"Never EVER let me take care of anything! Ever! Not even a cat!"

"I guessing it didn't go too well,"

"Halfway through, the little fluffy piece of crap curled up and died,"

"Was it a puffskein?"

"Yeah I think so, why?"

"They do that sometimes. They don't die, they just sort-of hibernate,"

"Come on James I'm not six years old anymore, it didn't 'go to sleep' it snuffed it,"

"No seriously, look.... Remus chuck me that book would you? Cheers...see? The puffskein has been known to enter a trance like state, often described a hibernation, when it feels comfortable in its environment." James read. "You'll probably get extra points,"

Lily still didn't look convinced.

"Let me see that,"

"Sorry, can't," James snapped the book shut. "I have an exam to get to,"

James, Remus, Peter and Ellis got up and went down to the Great Hall.

"Was any of that true?" Peter asked James.

"Course not," Remus snorted. "I didn't know she was so gullible,"

"She's not," James replied thoughtfully "That's the problem,"

"So the thing died?" Peter asked.

"Yeah she killed it,"

"Then why did you tell her......."

"Because it made her feel better didn't it?"

"So what are you going to do when she expects a really good grade and doesn't get it?"

"I don't know," James shrugged, "I'll worry about that when it comes to it."

Back in the Common Room the others were discussing the same thing.

"Honestly how stupid does he think I am?"

"He doesn't think you're stupid at all. He was just trying to make you feel better that's all,"

"I suppose,"

"Why did you even take Care of Magical Creatures? You hate animals," Mia pointed out.

"Hey!" Lily protested, "I don't hate.......I....... I thought it would be a doss," she admitted. "You know get outside for a bit, anyway it beats learning from a textbook,"

"You can cheer up now,"

"Really? Why's that?"

Sirius's face split into a grin.

"It's all over!"

"About bloody time too," Lily muttered.

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"Where did you get all this stuff from?" Lily asked amazed at the drinks, food, sweets and decorations that had suddenly appeared in the Common Room.

"Do you really want to know?" James asked carefully.

"Was it legal?"

"Not .......... strictly," he replied hesitantly.

"Then I don't want to know," she laughed. "Still, it makes a great party,"

They stood in silence until Lily started sniffing.

"You all right?"

At that point someone found some music and they could barely hear each other. James mouthed 'be right back', ran upstairs and returned with a silvery cloak. He gestured for her to follow him and they hurried out the Common Room. Lily didn't know where they were going but James seemed to be leading them somewhere. When they bumped into Professor McGonagall and were asked what they were doing, James answered that they were just doing Heads duties before turning in for the night.

"Where are we going to?" Lily demanded.

"I'll show you when we get there,"

"That's not an ans-"

"Ssssh!"

"Don't ssh me!"

"Stay still!" James commanded and swung the cloak over them. Lily started to speak again but he clamped his hand over her mouth. Her eyes widened but she stayed silent.

The footsteps behind them grew louder and Filch hurried past them, without even a glance at them.

"Wha..... ho.... I don't get it!"

"Go and stand over there, and then spin back round," he told her. She looked at him with a mixture of uncertainty and amusement. She did what he said and turned around to find that he had disappeared.

"James?" she asked uncertainly. "James?"

"Yes?" said a voice near her ear.

"James where are you?" She asked, working hard to keep her voice steady.

"Here," he replied, now on the other side of her.

"Where are you? This isn't funny!"

"Alright! Calm down!" he said as he swept the cloak off. Lily turned to find him lazily leaning against a wall. "Good huh?"

The expression on her face proved that she was less than impressed.

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" she yelled looking furious and holding her wand to his throat.

"Well.... go on then," he said a smirk beginning to form. Lily began a curse, nothing too serious, just enough to make him think twice before he ever tried to scare her again. But before she could finish, James had managed to take her wand and had swept the cloak back over them, just as Filch walked back past. Obviously having heard Lily's rage, he was thrilled at the thought of a student out of bed. James had to pin against Lily to stay out of his way.

"You've got to be quicker than that," James whispered in her ear.

Filch obviously heard. He span on his heel and peered around the corridor.

"Who's there?"

Lily wished he'd hurry up and leave. She was pressed against a cold stone wall and it was beginning to hurt. This puzzled her for a moment. It had been James who was leaning against the wall. Not her. He must have turned her round in the half a second it had taken him to snatch her wand and cover themselves in the cloak.

Filch eventually moved off, but Lily noticed that James stayed where he was. He shifted slightly so that their faces were barely an inch apart. He looked right into her eyes. He was so close; Lily sighed slightly. His gaze moved from her eyes to her lips and for a moment Lily thought he was going to kiss her.

But, James being James, he didn't.

He took her hand and broke into a sprint, leading her down the corridor, but smiling slightly as he did so. He knew exactly why she was annoyed with him. He'd wanted to kiss her; he knew full well that she wanted him to. At that moment, he'd have given anything he had just to stand there and snog her senseless, but he couldn't. If he'd started he wouldn't want to stop and he had other things to do tonight. There was something.... somewhere he wanted to show her before they left. Of course they could always come back, but it wouldn't be the same as sneaking out in the middle of the night.

He led her down some sort of passage and into a building.

"Where are we?" Lily asked. James shook his head and put a finger to her lips. She had to admit, if she had to stay silent, she much preferred that way than by having a hand clamped over her mouth. They walked through a large dark room and outside.

"James," Lily breathed, "It's beautiful, I never realised before,"

Having both run for the last ten minutes, they stood together catching their breath in the cool night air.

James smiled. Maybe he was shallow, maybe it was just his ego coming back into play, but he loved it when she was impressed. It wasn't his usual smirk, but a true smile, one that Lily thought he should show more often.

"So where to now?" she asked. It was too late for the shops in Hogsmeade to be open, but a few had left a light or two on, casting a glow over the street. There were no streetlights, but it was .........better, well in Lily's opinion anyway. It seemed more appropriate having a soft light that was just bright enough just enough to see by, than having harsh, glaring lights dotted up and down the street. The only thing was, it reminded her of why she had been upset in the Common Room and she felt herself starting all over again. She expected James to make a stupid comment or just to look uncomfortable like he usually did when any of the girls showed anything close to an emotion. What she didn't expect was for James to acknowledge that she was snivelling. Let alone try to comfort her.

Which, James being James, is exactly what he did. He led her over to a bench just up the street, opposite the Three Broomsticks, and sat down to face her. Lily couldn't believe how stupid she felt. He seemed to be leading her around a lot lately.

"What's wrong?" he asked, practically radiating concern and watching her seriously. She couldn't help but laugh at his serious expression.

"It's nothing really. Really!" she repeated at his disbelieving look. "It's just that it's almost over,"

"What is?"

"This. Everything. School. Hogwarts. Us,"

"Us?" he repeated, a strange expression on his face. "You think that when school breaks up, so will we?"

"Well... I don't want to think so, but it happens to everybody," she said in a rush, "Not just us but everyone. You always leave school promising to stay friends and to keep in touch but it never works. Everyone moves on and forgets. Why should we be any different?"

"We won't,"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because we won't split up just because we've left school, I promise! And anyway I won't be able shake Sirius off until the day I die, and I doubt Isabelle is any different. There you go you've still got four friends already," he joked and she smiled slightly. "Lily, things won't change,"

"But they will!" she protested. "They will no matter what you promise and swear, there are some things you can't do anything about!"

"At least let me try," he said. "Look, you know you said before about living with Sirius after schools over?"

"I was joking," she said quickly.

"Oh I know, you'd tear each other to pieces within a week. Anyway....." he continued, distracted by the thought of how long it would take Sirius and Lily to kill each other if they were stuck in a small confined space. "But......er....... I erm...oh for gods sake!" he said frustrated at not being able to say what he needed to. "Would you come and live with me?"

Lily's head snapped back round to James. "Sorry I was somewhere else for a second. I could have sworn that you just said-"

"I did,"

"I...er.... What?"

"Is it really that hard?" James asked with a nervous laugh. "You can say no if you want,"

"No."

"Oh.....ok then," he stuttered. It sounded lame, but there seemed to be nothing else to say.

"No, of course I do, is what I was going to say!" Lily replied, her eyes wide with a mixture of surprise and pure happiness. "Where though?"

"Don't worry about that," James replied looking distinctly happier. "We should get back to the castle," he added noticing Lily shiver.

"What's the rush?" she asked and rested her head on his shoulder. Instinctively he put his arm around her and pulled her closer. It seemed to be a reflex now.

"Are you serious about this?" she asked. Knowing James, he hadn't thought this through, and she was concerned that he would change his mind once he'd had time to think about it.

"Completely," he said, smiling at the thought of seeing her every day. They wouldn't have to be apart for lessons, or for holidays. There wouldn't be any interruptions from friends and they wouldn't have to have separate rooms. They both had jobs lined up for them in the ministry so chances are they'd be working together as well. All of which sounded brilliant to James.

Closing her eyes Lily could not remember feeling so happy. Not when she'd got her Hogwarts letter; or when she'd arrived and felt that there was finally somewhere she truly belonged; and not even that time with Isabelle and Ellis and she'd felt, that for the first time in her life, that she was in the right place at the right time.

She was going to live with James.

She didn't have to go back home.

She'd still see her friends.

And things weren't going to change.

With this thought still running through her mind, she began to doze.

"Lily? Lily?" he moved carefully and slowly. She'd been stressed all week, the least he could do was the let her sleep a while. Not that he could blame her, she'd hardly slept all week and it was late at night, well....more early morning really. He covered both of them in the cloak and closed his eyes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Which is exactly how they were found the next morning. Only sometime during the night, the cloak had slipped-

James's eyes snapped open as a scream pierced the air. Lily, however took a while longer, she was never a morning person. As soon as they woke, they realised it was a mistake. Lily made a mental note never to sleep on a wooden bench again. Everything in her body was screaming at her when she tried to move. Her neck seemed permanently bent into the shape of James's shoulder and her knees refused to unbend. They seemed to have completely forgotten what woke them up; they just beamed at each other muttering 'morning'.

That is- until the woman screamed again. James was about to ask 'What's up with her?' when he realised.

The cloak had slipped off their faces, leaving just two floating heads and a pair of feet sitting on a bench.

The second scream brought Madam Rosemerta out her pub to see what was going on.

"What are you making all this fuss about, Mrs –Oh!" she said as she caught sight of James and Lily, smiling sheepishly and sleepily. "It's alright," she said to the woman. "You carry on with your shopping,"

"Are you sure?" she asked in an unnaturally high voice. "They could be dangerous. I don't like the look of that one on the left,"

Smirking slightly at James's indignant expression, Rosemerta continued.

"Oh don't you worry about him. I can vouch for him. Poor boy lost his marbles years ago-spell backfired," she added in a whisper, knowing full well that James could hear every word. Eventually the woman seemed content and tottered off to do her shopping.

"You enjoyed that didn't you?" snarled James.

"Yes I did rather. Now are you going to come inside for a drink, or are you two going to doze outside and scare a few more old ladies?" Madam Rosemerta asked.

"I wouldn't say no to a drink," Lily replied slightly more conscious and yawning.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Where the hell have you two been?" Sirius asked as Lily and James hopped through the portrait and into the Common Room. Having caught sight of themselves as they passed a mirror, they decided that it was best if they cleaned themselves up before they went up. James's hair had been even messier than usual and Lily had large bags under her eyes. They understood perfectly why the old woman didn't like the look of them.

"Nowhere. Got tired last night and went to bed," James replied.

"Oh really?" Sirius asked waving a scrap of parchment at the pair.

"Alright so we went out. What's the problem?" James replied irritably. "That reminds me, Sirius I need to talk to you,"

"Anyone want to talk to me?" Ellis asked with a smile.

"I'm sure I could think of something," Sirius sneered.

"Just run along with your little friend," she snapped back.

Lily waited until James and Sirius were out of sight and then turned to the remaining girls.

"Guess what James asked me last night," she told them excitedly.

"He asked you to marry him!"

"Come on-We're talking about James here,"

"He asked you out!"

"Yeah," Lily replied sarcastically, "After a year of dating, he asked me out,"

"He asked me to move in with him!"

Immediately there was a chorus of 'Oh my god!'.

"So what did you say?"

Lily replied by breaking into a grin.

"So you're going to live with James after Hogwarts?" Isabelle checked with an expression Lily couldn't read. "That's ...... great!"

"Are you alright? You look kinda funny,"

"No really, I'm fine .......it's just........ I'll ....... I'll see you later," she stuttered and ran out the Common Room.

"What's wrong with her?" Mia asked.

"Don't kn- ooooohhh," Lily replied as realization dawned. Lily and Isabelle had become firm friends sometime during their second year. Since then they had daydreamed of getting a flat together and finally being able to leave home for good. And she had just gone and said how pleased she was to be able to live with James......

"Fine mess you made of that!"

"Cheers Elle, that makes me feel so much better," Lily replied sharply. "Should I go after her?"

"Do you know where she is?"

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"Say what you like, you'll never do it. You don't have the guts,"

"I already have!"

"You actually went through with it?" Sirius asked in disbelief.

"Yes I did." James replied affronted.

"You do understand what you asked her don't you? I mean it's a bloody big step,"

"I know."

"You have thought this through right?"

"Sirius, you're not going to put me off," James laughed. "No matter how much you try,"

"Oh well... I tried. If you're conscience will allow you to let your best friend starve on the street, then there's nothing more I can do,"

"You have your own flat in one of the best parts of London and a bank account full of gold! I'd hardly call that starving on the street,"

"So basically you're ditching your friend for your girlfriend," Sirius asked, pretending to wipe away a tear.

"Pretty much."

"So I guess that leaves me alone. All alone......"

"Yeah an-"

"SIRIUS! SIRIUS!" Isabelle cried out running towards them and throwing herself at him.

"Belle what's wrong?" Sirius asked urgently.

"I'm so sorry! Sure I'll live with you, I shouldn't have said no!" she said into his shoulder.

"Did you ask her to live with you?" James asked watching the scene in front of him with great interest.

"Didn't he tell you?" Isabelle asked.

"No he didn't. You have thought this through right? I mean it's a bloody big step," he asked trying to keep a straight face. "Hogwarts premier playboy settles down at last. Hearts will be broken," he warned.

"So will necks if you carry on," Sirius growled.

"So it looks like things are going to work out pretty good," James grinned. "Maybe being a grown up won't be so bad after all."

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I know I said I wouldn't put this up until I got reviews-I lied. I couldn't wait. I wanted this up before I went on holiday (YAY!) so I can write the last chapter when I get back.So here it is....please review!

cilverblood-Thank you for all your reviews! No I think I can safely say that I didn't know that, but that is kinda gross. Just hope it wasn't a relative. Trust me I was very happy too when I got a review email. I really will try and I get what you mean - but I think I've decided that I'm not too good at mushy. I am trying though!

shan-Thanks for the review. I love Sirius too, he's got to be the best character in the books.

Erin Hatfield, dis story rox SnoopyViz and MissMariel-Thanks for your reviews! I am trying to update! But I'm really happy you like the story.


	33. Walk Away Quietly

Chapter 33 

"Is this it?" Lily asked.

"Is this what?"

"IT? We just do our exams and go home and that's it? We don't even get a party?"

"We should have a prom," Mia spoke up.

"A what?" James and Sirius asked.

"A ball. A party."

"We've had a party,"

"But that was just for Gryffindors. We should have a big party like Halloween for all the seventh years," replied Lily suddenly warming up to the idea.

"So it's going to be like Halloween all over again?" James asked uncertainly, remembering how stressed Lily had been.

"Yeah, it'll be great! People loved it last time!"

"Can't wait," he replied rolling his eyes.

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Lily came bubbling into the Heads Rooms a few hours later practically bursting with excitement.

"Dumbledore said yes! But we have to invite everyone who's leaving-including any fifth and sixth years,"

"So we're actually doing this?" James asked. "Again?!"

"Yeah," Lily replied looking happy.

"I blame you for this," he whispered to Mia. She smiled in apology and turned back to Lily. "If I actually thought she was listening I wouldn't have said anything!" she hissed back.

"But, we only have a week so you all have to help me ok?" Lily asked and bounced back out the room. As soon as she left all eyes narrowed and turned to Mia.

"I'm sorry!" she squeaked.

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"Costume party,"

"You can't have a costume party on the last day,"

"A prom,"

"A ball,"

"A prom,"

"WHAT THE HELL IS A PROM?"

"A muggle thing. I think it's American. Students have a party when they leave school,"

"WELL I'M AN ENGLISH WIZARD, HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?"

"Sirius will you please stop shouting?"

"Yes Lily. Sorry Lily."

"ANYONE GOT ANY GOOD IDEAS?"

"Now you're shouting!"

"I'm not, I'm just making myself heard!"

"YOU'RE SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS!"

"LOOK WHO'S TALKING!"

"Lily! Sirius! Calm down! Ciara's trying to say something,"

"Can't we just have the one we had at Halloween?"

"No! You can't re-use a party,"

"But we already know what to do,"

"So you think we should have pumpkins and cats and scary things dotted around the hall do you?"

"I've got a cat you could borrow,"

"NO! WE'RE NOT USING A CAT, WE'RE NOT DOING A HALLOWEEN PARTY IN JUNE AND UNLESS MIA WANTS TO EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF A PROM TO THE ENTIRE SCHOOL, WE ARE NOT HAVING A PROM EITHER!"

"Good luck with her James!"

"Sirius, unless you have anything useful to say shut up!"

"Yes PROFESSOR!"

"I'm just trying to get something done. We don't even have a week to get this sorted out,"

"THAT WASN'T USEFUL BUT YOU STILL GOT TO TALK!"

"WHY CAN'T WE HAVE A PROM? THE ONLY DIFFERENCE TO A BALL IS THAT IT HAS A DIFFERENT NAME!"

"WE DON'T HAVE TO HAVE THE HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS BUT WE COULD JUST HAVE THE SAME MUSIC AND THEMES AND STUFF,"

"HOW COME EVERYONE ELSE IS YELLING BUT YOU'RE ONLY HAVING A GO AT ME? STOP ROLLING YOUR EYES!"

"I GIVE UP! JUST GO! Lets face it, none of you really want to be here, just go and I'll sort everything out. Really it's fine. James, Sirius go play Quidditch and Belle go cheer them; Remus go teach Pete something; Ciara go play with your spells and Ellis go do Mia's nails. Now go. GO!"

"Are you sure-"

"Leave or I will have to hurt you,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Before you all dash off to your lessons, as I am sure you are all eager to do," Dumbledore said at breakfast a few days later, his eyes twinkling. "I would like to inform you that there will be a dance held in the Great Hall for all seventh years and those in the fifth and sixth years who will also be leaving us at the end of term. I am told that it will be in the Great Hall and that it will be commencing at 7.45,"

"You actually sorted it out on your own?"

"Did you have to sound quite so surprised?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"How am I supposed to know what to wear?" Ellis asked the day before the planned party. "When we don't even know what's happening?"

"Just wear…." Lily started to say but was interrupted by a puff of smoke form Ciara's wand, "Just wear what ever you want,"

"But what….Ciara do you think you could do that a bit quieter?"

"Sorry!" she called back, and drew the curtains around her bed in an effort to try and muffle the noise.

"But what kind of thing?" Ellis continued.

"Whatever you want,"

"That doesn't……. DON!" she screamed as a particularly loud bang sounded.

"I'm trying!" Ciara yelled back.

"You'll see what it's like when you get there," Lily replied smiling at her friend's impatience.

Ellis was about to reply when something bigger than a puff of smoke, something bigger than a bang echoed through the girls' dormitories.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Don? DON? CIARA?" Ellis yelled running over to her bed. Clouds of smoke were now pouring out from inside the curtains.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" James and Sirius shouted from downstairs, frustrated at not being able to climb up and see what was happening.

"Ciara was playing around," Mia offered as an explanation.

"Is she alright? Are you lot ok?"

"Yeah we're fine, but……" Ellis trailed off.

"Bring her down, we'll take her up," James decided.

James carried the unconscious Ciara up to the Hospital Wing and they all waited for Madam Pomfrey to finish. Mia had run off to find Remus but the others were waiting in silence. James was twitchy because he was in the hospital; Lily and Ellis were afraid that they would cry if they opened their mouths; and Sirius was lost in thought. He was feeling guilty and not at all liking this new sensation.

"Apart from a mild concussion she'll be fine," Madam Pomfrey told them, and smiled at the audible sigh of relief. "Do you know how it happened?"

"A spell backfired, I think,"

"Is she awake?"

"Yes. Ten minutes and that's all!" she called out after them.

They skidded to a halt just at the edge of her bed.

"Hi," she said brightly grinning at the all.

"Why do you look so happy, you almost killed yourself,"

"Simple accident. But I'm fine so it doesn't really matter does it?"

"That depends. Have you finally had enough of messing around with spells?" Lily asked.

"It was just an accident. But I know what I did wrong so I can change it. See what I was saying was…."

"You're not actually carrying on with this are you?" Ellis asked. "It must be the concussion talking! You could so easily have ended up with much worse than a 'mild concussion' and you're here talking about trying it again!"

"Alright, alright! I won't do it again. Do you know when I can leave here?"

"Either later today or tomorrow,"

"I still get to go to your party?"

"If you don't kill yourself before then, yes,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ciara was released early the next morning, and made a beeline down to the Common Room, and was greeted with:

"Oh….still breathing then,"

"JAMES!"

"Hurry up Ciara, you're late,"

Ciara was about to blurt out an apology when James saved her.

"Why do you need so much time? I mean you look great at the end so it must be worth it, but why do you have to waste so much time?" His question was met by five icy stares.

"Well….perhaps you'd like to go to the dance with a group of hags, just as long as we're saving time," Lily snapped. There was only eight hours left and her patience was wearing thin.

"Note for the future mate, do not EVER mess with girls when they are trying to get ready," Sirius advised. "Amusing, but not worth the hassle,"

"You've taught him well," Ellis remarked to Isabelle.

"I'd listen to him James, because in about five minutes time you are going to make a stupid remark, Elle will make a catty one back then I'll get stressed and start shouting so….. I'm saving time," Lily emphasised the last three words and smiled slightly.

"Sorry…are you kicking me out of my own room?" James asked.

"Yes. Ball starts at 7.45."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Will you stop? You're making me nervous too!" Despite her calm front, James knew Lily was uneasy, whether it was the slight tremor in her voice when she spoke or that he could feel her hand shake as he held it. "You did it before and it was great, you can do it again,"

The earlier differences had been settled by a simple combination of compliments ("You look ….wow!") and kiss-arseing. ("I'm so sorry I said it was a waste of time. Only nine hours? Worth every second!"). Probably helped by the fact that the boys turned up early, compared to their custom of arriving ten minutes late with the excuse 'I thought you'd want to make an entrance.' They reasoned that it would be the last dance they'd be dragged to; they might as well pretend to make an effort.

James and Sirius were taking Lily and Isabelle naturally. Despite their recent rows, Remus had, albeit grudgingly, agreed to take Ciara. Peter was going alone, his old infatuation with Mia seemed to have restarted, who, unfortunately for her, was also going by herself. Having a boyfriend out of Hogwarts didn't seem concern her as she made a bet with Ellis- four hours to pull as many boys as possible and counting the same boy more than once. Ellis's previous record was seven and they were both determined to beat it. Peter, however, seemed to take it as a sign. They were both going alone and as soon as he heard that Mia was planning to pull as many boys as she could, became convinced that he was destined to be one of them.

"For gods sake relax!" James told her for what seemed like the fifteenth time that night.

"But I didn't have much time to prepare anything. What if people hate it? What if they're bored? What if…."

"It'll be fine, come on,"

The only question that seemed to steady Lily was Sirius's- Why does it start at such a weird time? Her answer was a secret smile and a mysterious 'You'll see,'

As they walked in together the realisation that it would be the one of the last times they were in the Great Hall together seemed to dawn on them. They'd be back for breakfast tomorrow, and after that…… well they'd think about that later.

It wasn't elaborately decorated like the last time. There was no theme and the decorations wouldn't change every few minutes but it seemed more fitting somehow. The decorations were simpler, chains of fairy lights strung around the walls, unlit candles hiding in the corners and the traditional balloons. Thick curtains hung over the windows adding to the atmosphere; the only light in the hall came from the sky above them.

"Why does it have to be so dark?"

"Don't ask questions. Have a little faith," Lily smiled at him and walked over to the windows.

"Here goes!" she sighed before calling out to everyone who immediately stopped talking and turned around to listen. When the cheers had died down, helped by James and Isabelle, she pulled open the curtains and Sirius got the answer to his question.

Orange sunlight poured in through the windows as the sun set over the grounds. That, everyone had to agree, was better than any decoration they could think of. From the Hall they could see right over the grass, the lake and the forest. Everything had taken on a golden colour, and looked far more dramatic than it usually did.

They had spent years eating, talking, laughing, listening in the bustling centre of school, but wasn't how they'd remember it. When they thought back, it wasn't crowded, dark or noisy. It was silent, with everyone just standing, watching the swirl of colours out the window.

But it didn't last long enough; a while later it was dark outside, the candles had been lit and the fairy lights turned on. Much to James and Sirius's disappointment there was no food this time, though their faces brightened when they found the drinks.

"Where did you manage to find a band at such short notice?"

"God knows. Still…..they're not too bad," Lily answered. "Good enough to DANCE TO,"

James was staring determinedly in the opposite direction.

"You're so lucky you brought someone. Now you have someone to DANCE WITH," Mia smiled back.

At this point James decided that his plan wasn't working and that he was going to have to dance, whether he liked it or not.

"Care to dance?" he asked in his best 'jolly good' voice.

"I though you'd never ask," which was half true. Lily had wondered when, if ever, he was going to give in and just ask her to dance.

Sirius however had more important things to do than dance. While Isabelle was off finding them something to drink, he'd noticed that Peter was staring at Mia and was muttering to himself.

"Why don't you go up to her?" Sirius asked.

"I do! But it's not working,"

Sirius shook his head slowly and began to speak as though he was talking to a small child.

"She's playing hard-to-get,"

"She keeps walking off,"

"That's the point, go after her,"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. When a girl keeps walking away from you to means you're in with a chance," Sirius looked around and added in a whisper "She likes to be pursued,"

Peter seemed to cheer up and grinned at his friend. "Thank you Sirius!"

"No problem," he replied, barely concealing a smirk as the other boy walked away, going through Sirius's advice in his head. How anyone could be so stupid was beyond Sirius.

"You stirring again?" a voice whispered in his ear.

"Who? Me?" he asked giving her a look of pure innocence.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Oy Black! Over here. I want a word with you!" Mia hissed looking murderous. "I am THIS CLOSE to loosing ten Galleons and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Er…….why?"

"You told that twitchy little creep to follow me around, DIDN'T YOU?!"

"That…….maybe true,"

"STOP HIM OR YOU'LL OWE ME 10 GALLEONS!"

"But you've got to admit it is funny,"

Mia glared at him.

"Just one dance, that's all the poor sod wants. Two minutes of your life that's all,"

"Just one and then he'll leave me alone all night?" Mia asked thinking about it.

"Would I lie to you?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile, Lily was attempting to start a serious conversation with James. However James was in one of his quiet moods and was barely talking.

"We leave tomorrow,"

"I know,"

"Are you still serious about…. living together?"

"Course,"

"Don't you think we should…. What?" she asked as he stood up and held his hand out to her.

"We're dancing," he offered as an explanation.

"But you can hardly hear the music out here,"

James smiled slightly.

"You're not getting out of this conversation,"

James rolled his eyes. Why did girls always want to talk?

"I mean am I moving or are you moving or are we both moving. Do you want to move straight away or wait a while? Where to? Do you want to stay in London, or do you want to move out to the country?"

James shrugged.

"We don't have much time left, so PICK SOMETHING!" she growled.

Seeing that he wasn't going to be able to avoid talking either, he sighed.

"We'll live at the parents' for a month to give ourselves time to get things sorted out. We'll both move, don't know where to yet, but we'll both move. Are we done yet?"

She obviously wasn't going to get any further-

"Yeah, we're done,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Please?"

"NO!"

"Please James!"

"No."

"Come on!"

"NO!"

"But I am so close! Mia is beating me by, like, three blokes. Come on! One little peck, that's all,"

"One- there must be three blokes in here who aren't with anyone already, and two- you're bet is to pull someone, not a little peck,"

"But-"

"Ellis, no!"

"Fine!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What you doing?" Mia asked as Peter stepped towards her.

"Dancing?" he said, suddenly unsure.

"Oh no one dances like that anymore," she replied stepped back and swinging her arms around madly. She'd agreed to dance with him, but that didn't mean she had to touch him.

They danced like that for a while until the music slowed and all the couples automatically moved together. Sirius had promised to rescue her after a dance but he was nowhere to be seen.

Faking a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes, they started to dance- Mia grimacing every time he stepped on her feet. Fortunately Sirius appeared out of nowhere and had swept her across to the other side of the Hall before Peter realised anything had happened.

He was a much better dancer than Peter, she had to hand him that. He moved slowly but not clumsily and surprisingly lightly, never stepping on her feet.

"As nice as this is, shouldn't you be doing this with Isabelle, not me?"

"Are you that desperate to get rid of me?" Sirius joked.

"No, stop fishing for compliments," Mia scolded laughing. "I was just wondering why you aren't dancing with your current girlfriend,"

"I'm not allowed to dance with a friend?"

"I suppose. Anyway….. thanks for that," she muttered.

"Any time,"

"There will never be another time,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Shouldn't that be you?" Lily asked watching Mia and Sirius dance.

"What? They're friends,"

"He's YOUR boyfriend!"

"So? Aren't friends allowed to dance?"

"That's not dancing! There's barely an inch between them!" Lily pointed out.

"Come on, I'll dance with you Belle," Since Isabelle was now looking very worried, James decided to end the conversation before Lily managed to get her completely paranoid.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Please?"

"Piss off Quinn."

"Believe me, I really don't want to be asking you of all people, but please? I'm drawing with Mia, one bloke and I can win!"

"Do I really look like I care?"

"One kiss- that's all,"

"Why would I possibly want to do that? Anyway, Isabelle is standing just over there,"

"No she's not- she's dancing with James. Please? She'll never know,"

"My god you're a bitch."

"Fine! I didn't know you were so well trained,"

"Well trained? I'm not a…. What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Come on- we're always talking about it. Isabelle's always saying that she's got you wrapped around her little finger; you'll jump to her every whim. I always thought she was exaggerating, but……"

"Just go find a desperate geek and use him,"

"I do have some standards….. albeit not many, but some,"

Sirius laughed his bark-like laugh.

Smiling Ellis carried on, "Please? Don't pretend you're 'so in love' with Isabelle you never even consider anyone else, you were dancing with Mia a second ago,"

"That's different. She's a mate,"

"And an ex…. And it was a very slow dance……."

"Belle's dancing with James, but you don't see me getting jealous because they're friends,"

"Then think of it as doing a favour to a mate,"

"You're not a mate."

"Alright then don't. Please I'm begging you! I'll owe you a favour. You'll have one over me...." she added watching Sirius's brain beginning to tick. "One second, that's all I'm asking,"

Then without saying another word, he snaked a hand round the back of her neck and pulled her into a rough kiss. Barely a second later he pushed her away making dramatic expressions of disgust.

"You breathe a word of that…." He hissed. Ellis made a face.

"Trust me, I won't even think about it. You don't have to look quite so repulsed, it didn't bother you a few years ago," she reminded him sweetly.

"Yeah well, kids are stupid."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Do you think people enjoyed it?" Lily asked as she danced with James. The fact that it was near the end of the night seemed to be sinking into the other students- the Hall had quietened down from the loud roar of voices and laughter there was at the beginning of the evening to a gentle murmur.

"Looks like it,"

"What's the time?"

"Five to twelve, why?"

"Just wondered," she paused and looked up as though she was waiting for something.

"Seriously….what is it?"

"In five minutes it's all over,"

"Stop feeling sorry of yourself,"

"I'm not!" she said indignant. James snorted and didn't reply. It looked as though he had finally found something to say when an explosion rocked the Hall around them. Golden sparks like minute stars fell down form the ceiling disappearing just above their heads.

"The grand finale?" James asked with a smile. Even the murmur of voices had disappeared as everyone stood watching the fireworks above then.

"Well……you didn't expect us to walk away quietly did you?".

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Its almost over 1 more chapter left… This took me forever- my computer decided to pack up halfway through and now only half my keys work- very frustrating especially as the enter and full stop keys dont work i have to cut and aste everytime i want a new ine or full stop or comma ITS DRIVING ME MAD!

Thank you to-cilverblood (do you honestly expect me to tell you? Good you like him but i have to say i love SiriusThat girlsounds like a bitch- if she was only out for a few seconds you need to TRY HARDER!); sissy-6 (Thanks! i really am trying to write the next bit but imalso trying to write four other stories and a years worth of coursework so it may take some time!); quick thanks to-crazi4jamez BiBiGunGuRL shan secludeddark and BurningIce22…


	34. The Way Home

Chapter 34 

"James. Prongs! Oh Potter!" Sirius whispered in a singsong voice.

"What?" James growled, as he was shaken awake. "Put that bloody thing out will you?" he nodded towards lit wand Sirius was gleefully waving around the dormitory.

"We're going out. Coming?"

"Might as well," he sighed, "Cloak's in the bottom of my tr-never mind," he said as Sirius produced with a flourish a handful of silvery fabric. He'd never really grasped the concept of privacy.

"Got the map?"

"Yup."

A little while later and they were sitting together under James's cloak on one of the tables in the Great Hall (Gryffindor, naturally). Sirius had managed to pinch some Fire Whisky from somewhere and they were taking turns to swig from the bottle.

"Completely honestly, are you happy or sad we're leaving?" James asked.

"Happy," Sirius said at once. "Real life here we come!"

"Me to!" agreed Peter.

"What about you Moony?"

He thought for a second.

"Sad." He said at last.

"Why?!" Sirius asked in bewilderment, as though leaving school was the best thing that could possibly happen.

"It's all right for you, you lot could do anything you wanted. No one's going to want to hire…. Someone like me," he finished, staring dismally into the half empty bottle.

"I thought you wanted to be a teacher. Dumbledore would hire you," James said, desperate to cheer up his friend.

"Do you honestly think parents will want me teaching their children?" Remus asked, taking a long drink and handing the bottle back to Sirius.

"Oh, didn't think of that," James admitted.

"Lucky you." Remus said, and for the first time, James heard a hint of bitterness in his friend's voice.

"Stop worrying! It's going to be good,"

"How do you know?"

"Just trust me." Sirius said confidently.

"I seem to remember that the last time you said that." Remus replied with a shiver.

"It's not my fault Snivellus moved at the last moment! You shouldn't have been standing behind him if you're so touchy about getting cursed!"

James tuned out of his friends' bickering and watched the stars swirling above them. He tried to lie back to get a better view, only the table was slightly higher up than he had expected and he cracked his head on the wood.

Not that that did much to take the drunken smile of his face.

Made him laugh though.

It was only when the bottle had been drunk, they had laughed themselves hoarse and James was beginning to feel the pain in his head that they decided to call it a night.

They'd covered themselves in the cloak and had just made it out of the Hall when they heard footsteps behind them.

"Who is it?" James whispered.

"Dunno," Sirius slurred. "Probably Filch."

"Look on the map!"

"I don't have it. You've got it."

"If I had it why would I have asked you?!"

"WELL I DON'T HAVE IT!"

"Keep you're voice down!" James implored as the footsteps in the Hall came to a sudden halt. "Remus, do have you it?"

"No."

"Pete?"

"Why would he have it?" Sirius asked.

James swore as a sobering thought hit him.

"I left it in the Hall," he said guiltily. Sirius gave him a look so furious that James was extremely glad that his friend didn't have his wand with him. He had a feeling that if he had, he'd be in a great amount of pain right now.

This seemed to have sobered the other Marauders as well.

"Go and get it then!" Sirius hissed without a trace of any slur.

"Filch is in there!"

"It's your bloody fault it's in there in the first place so YOU can go and get it back."

Scowling and muttering James crept back into the Hall and over to the table they had been sitting on, trying to avoid Filch who was skulking around the edges of the room. Out the corner of his eye he saw the Marauders Map balancing on the edge and made a grab for it, forgetting he was wearing the cloak. The movement caused the map to flutter to the ground, catching Filch's eye. Immediately he pounced on it and held it up, cackling with delight.

James prayed that Filch would put it back. At that moment James was torn between running at Filch and trying to snatch it back; or he standing back and hoping that Filch thought it was just a scrap of parchment and leave it behind.

But, by the time James had made up his mind what to do, Filch had moved off and was shuffling out of the Hall with Mrs Norris following him.

James fought the urge to give that scummy little cat of his a kick.

Following him out in to the Entrance Hall he stopped as Filch bent over to examine a spot of mud on the floor. He aimed a kick at the back of Filch's knees, and caught the Marauders Map as Filch was sent sprawling across the floor.

And then kicked Mrs Norris for good measure.

Panting, he arrived at the boys' dormitories, having sprinted all the way back.

"There's your……..bloody……map," he threw it at Sirius. "Why you wanted it is beyond me,"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That after tomorrow it's not going to be any use. It only shows Hogwarts doesn't it."

"So what do you want to do with it?"

James shrugged.

"Put in the first year dormitories tomorrow. The school's going to be quiet without Moony Wormtail Padfoot and Prongs. Let one of the new kids find it and stir things up a bit," Remus said with a smile.

"The next generation of Marauders? Sounds good to me," James grinned.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" Lily asked, dabbing delicately at her eyes with makeup running in streaks down her face.

"Are you sure?" James asked hesitantly.

"No, really I'm……..fine!" she rushed before she burst into tears.

"Last day today," James said, trying to start a conversation. But he only managed to cause a fresh wave of tears. "But it's not really ending, it's just another beginning really….." he stuttered desperate to stop her crying.

Another wave.

Completely out of his depth, as usual when it came to female emotions, he did, as usual, the only thing he could think of.

"What do you want?" Sirius appeared in the doorway half a minute later.

James pointed helplessly to the sofa, where Lily was trying desperately to control herself and regain what little dignity she had left.

"Oh god," Sirius groaned, "BELLE!"

"What?" she appeared beside him. He also pointed helplessly to Lily and shrugged. Rolling her eyes at her friends' incompetence Isabelle coughed something that sounded like 'Pathetic!" and went over to help her friend.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Last breakfast," Peter pointed out, as they walked in a line in to the Great Hall. James and Sirius gave him a murderous look. Isabelle had tried and failed to comfort Lily, and broken down herself. In desperation Mia had been found, then Ciara, then (with great reluctance form Sirius) Ellis had just about succeeded in cheering them up.

"Well now that's over we should probably start packing," James said as he finished his last mouthful of breakfast.

"YOU HAVEN'T PACKED YET?!"

"Of course I've…..packed….. I just need to…..finish you know, double check everything," James stuttered and pulled a face at Sirius when Lily's back was turned.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Have you seen my little book?"

"What little book?"

"Black, marblely, got a flower on the front. Where the hell is it? It was right here, WHERE IS IT?"

"You mean this one?" Ellis held it up with an evil smile. "Lets see what you've got inside it……"

"NO! ELLIS QUINN GIVE IT BACK!" Smiling Ellis threw the book back and carried on packing.

"We've got an hour left," Mia pointed out, and then immediately wished she hadn't.

She bit her lip to hold back a sob but failed miserably. Crying on the last day was, evidently, contagious. Within a minute they were all snivelling.

Hearing the wail that erupted from the Common Room Sirius appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's wro- oh god," he groaned for the second time that day.

"What is it?" James called down from boys' dormitories.

"It's alright, they're at it again!" Sirius yelled back. "Cheer up," he told them "British stiff upper lip and all that crap,"

"I'm not British can I cry?" Isabelle asked.

"NO! No one's allowed to cry! It's good! It's a new place to live, new people, new work, a whole new life!" Sirius said excitedly. However, this obviously didn't have the effect he was hoping for- a loud wail sounded from one of the girls.

He seemed to have given up. He gave an odd sort of grunt, stomped back up the stairs and slammed the door behind him.

This, although entirely unintentional, managed to do what Sirius had been trying to do all morning-

It shut them up.

"Did you just here that?" Mia asked grinning, she copied Sirius's snort sending the rest of the girls into giggles. When they had finally managed to control themselves she did it again, and began to laugh helplessly with the rest.

"What is it this time?" Sirius asked, looking more and more short tempered each time he appeared.

"Nothing!" they chorused. Only to burst into hysterical laughter once his back was turned. Rolling his eyes his stamped back upstairs and continued to slam his possessions into his trunk.

"What is it with girls? First they're crying their eyes out, now they're in hysterics," he muttered.

"I thought you didn't even try to understand them,"

"I'm not saying that I want to get why they do every little thing, but a slight inkling would be helpful."

"Well, however much you don't know, you still know a hell of a lot more than me," James replied, looking lovingly at the Quidditch robes he was about to give back. "Are you sure they really need them? I mean, the cost of new robes is nothing for the school,"

"You have to give them back, Prongs," Sirius said with a small smile.

"But-"

"No, James you can't. James muttered something under his breath, looking like a sulking child but followed his friend downstairs.

Ten minutes later and Potter 7, Black 6, Quinn 4 and Morgan 2 were lying on Professor McGonagall's desk. It had taken Sirius almost five minutes to persuade James to leave it behind.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Where did you two disappear off to?"

They had been packed onto the Hogwarts Express and were well on their way back to London when James and Sirius disappeared.

"Nowhere." James replied.

Perhaps it was the fact that Sirius was now staring determinedly out the window; or that James didn't quite meet her eye when he replied made Lily think that they weren't being entirely honest….. then something clicked.

"So is he a different shape… size…. species?" she asked.

"Colour," Sirius answered with an evil grin.

"YOU TURNED SNAPE A DIFFERENT COLOUR?!" she asked in disbelief.

"Yup." Sirius answered proudly. Remus opened his mouth, as though he was about to say something, and then closed it like he'd changed his mind.

"Blue. With purple limbs." James explained.

"He looks like he's shut his hands in a door," Sirius added gleefully.

"Come on!" James said in reply to Lily's disapproving look. "It's the last time I'll ever curse him. I promise!"

"Only because today's the last day you'll ever see him!" Lily pointed out.

"Well then there's no way I can break my promise is there?"

Rolling her eyes but smiling all the same, she sighed.

There's no arguing with Marauder Logic.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Lily? Lily?" James whispered.

"What?" she muttered blearily,

"We're in London,"

"Wha- huh?" and then she paused as understanding hit her. "I fell asleep?! THE LAST JOURNEY HOME AND I FELL ASLEEP?!"

"Just for a bit," Mia squeaked. "We're home now,"

There was a silence in the carriage as this sunk into all of them.

They were going home.

James considered flatly refusing to get off the train. But then he was going to live with Lily- Perhaps the only thing worth leaving Hogwarts for.

"I'll see you soon, promise?"

"Course you will!" Isabelle agreed with Lily.

"I'll call you once you're settled in," Ellis promised, "Good luck with James Lils," she added with a smile.

Gradually the station began to clear as parents walked off with their children, having to listen to a years worth of exploits and adventures; and the seventh years realised with a sigh that they couldn't avoid their parents any longer. Sirius's family had gone up to meet his brother, pointedly ignoring their eldest son. He faltered for a second as he caught sight of them, but quickly recovered and went back to joking with James's parents.

Isabelle, likewise, was standing with her family; her father was glaring at Sirius's long hair and arrogant manner with obvious disapproval.

Lily was almost finished saying her goodbyes when she got to Sirius and tried to think of what she could possibly say. She'd gone from hating him, to being a mate and then to considering him on of her best friends in less than a year.

"Sirius…..I…." she began.

"Yeah," he said with a smile. "I know."

"See you soon?"

"You're living with James aren't you." Sirius asked as though it was obvious.

"Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she replied laughing.

"Are you done yet?" James asked sliding an arm around Lily's waist.

"Yeah," she sighed taking a last look around the station, "I guess so,"

"Get a move on you two!" Sirius called out, standing in a group with the other seventh years. Rolling their eyes, they joined him.

And then together, they walked out of the station and outinto the Big Bad World.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER REVIEWED!!!! That's it! Finished.

Sorry this took so long to put up, things kind of got in the way (holidays, school, bonfire night)

I'm sorry (again!)the last chapter was a bit kaputt but I suppose thats what you get with three keys and jet lag.

Thanks cilverblood (where I live, Ellis isn't nasty more..... normal. To be honest i dont really like Sirius pairings either, especially at Hogwarts, Isabelle wasn't supposedto last very long but now i needher to finish my story. Oops!) LilyE78(I know! I completly forgot that she was supposed to be muggleborn but there you go.) Secludedark, SJRsgirl, and shan!

Leo x


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